Very little is publicly known about the early life and personal background of Huang Guozhen. He was a Chinese man living in Nafang, a village located in Qinzhou, which was then part of Guangxi Province. By all accounts, Huang had been living a relatively ordinary rural life until the events of March 1989 changed that forever.

In the period leading up to the killings, it was reported that Huang had been involved in a serious personal dispute with his brother, Huang Xiangbang. The nature of the disagreement is not fully documented, but it was evidently significant enough to fuel violent resentment. There are no known records of prior criminal behavior or diagnosed mental illness, but reports describe Huang as being heavily intoxicated on the day of the massacre.

On the afternoon of March 19, 1989, Huang Guozhen embarked on a brutal and senseless killing spree that would become one of the deadliest mass murders in rural China during the 1980s.

According to multiple reports, the day began with Huang drinking heavily until he became visibly intoxicated. He then set fire to his own home, an act that may have symbolized the beginning of his final descent into chaos. Armed with a firewood knife, Huang made his way to the residence of his brother, Huang Xiangbang, with whom he had previously quarreled.

Upon arrival, he murdered both his brother and his brother’s wife. The attack was sudden and brutal, and both victims were hacked to death. Not stopping there, Huang then left the property and traveled to the local market in Nafang, where he unleashed indiscriminate violence on civilians. Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic and horror as Huang began slashing at random individuals, including children and elderly passersby, with no clear motive other than blind rage. It is believed that he used the same firewood knife throughout the rampage.

By the end of the attack, 16 to 17 people had been killed and 2 others were seriously injured. The massacre sent shockwaves through the quiet village, which was unprepared for such unimaginable violence. The killing spree was only stopped when two brave men such as Huang Guoqin, a bystander, and Zhou Youbang, the local Chinese Communist Party secretary, intervened and managed to subdue and restrain Huang Guozhen. He was immediately arrested by the local authorities.

What followed was one of the fastest legal proceedings in modern Chinese criminal history. Within ten days, Huang was brought to trial in Qinzhou, where he was convicted and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out immediately after the verdict, in front of a crowd of over 10,000 people. Huang was executed by firing squad on the same day, March 29, 1989.