Melbourne's 'liveable city' reputation questioned after fatal stabbing

A HungryPanda delivery rider's fatal stabbing sent shock waves beyond the local community, spreading across China through social media and state media coverage.

Reports of 47-year-old Chinese national Feng Jianming's death last Friday were amplified through WeChat groups and public accounts.

Some dubbed Melbourne as "Little Gotham" — a reference to the fictional, crime-ridden city in Batman comics — while others questioned Melbourne's status as one of the world's most liveable city.

"The world's most liveable city could not protect a delivery rider," read one video post on WeChat.

State media reports have highlighted the hardships experienced by the father-of-two, working far away from home to support his family back in China, and the response from the Chinese consulate in Melbourne.

"[Consul General Fang Xinwen] asked the Premier, Victorian Government and Victoria Police to handle this case fairly in accordance with the law, severely punish the perpetrator, and earnestly safeguard the life and legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese nationals in Victoria," the report said.

This is not the first time Melbourne has been dubbed "Little Gotham" or a "crime capital". The label often resurfaces on social media after serious violent attacks.

Liveability ranking versus reality

Garrick Yang regularly travels between Shanghai and Melbourne, where he had lived for more than a decade and his parents still do.

Mr Yang said the attack on Mr Feng was "a tragedy" but came as no surprise, following a series of stabbings in recent months.

"When you look at everyday life in Melbourne and see these incidents, you realise how far reality is from [its liveability] reputation," Mr Yang said. 

Mr Yang has also been a victim of crime.

In September, his investment property in Heidelberg West was broken into and copper parts were stolen from the hot water system.

He said he gave police the CCTV footage but heard nothing since.

Melbourne has been ranked among the world's top four most liveable cities over the past four years, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

It topped the index for a record seven consecutive years from 2011 to 2017.

Melbourne ranked third in the latest index, scoring 95 out of 100 for stability, which is weighted at 25 per cent of the overall score.

The stability category considers factors including petty and violent crime, terrorism and military conflict.

"Those liveability rankings are almost a joke to people like us, who live in China but still have an emotional attachment to Australia," Mr Yang said.

The ABC has approached Victoria Police and the EIU for comment.

'Is Melbourne really this chaotic?'

Sam Huang is a research professor in tourism and services marketing at Edith Cowan University in Perth.

He said while Melbourne remained an attractive city because of its culture and lifestyle, news of Mr Feng's fatal stabbing could risk further damaging its international reputation.

It could have a considerable impact on people's decision to live, study or invest in Melbourne over the next one to two years, he added.

"Safety is one of the most basic requirements of a liveable city,"

he said.

"People should not feel their personal safety is threatened when they walk down the street."

For Mr Yang, concerns around safety have gradually eroded his confidence in Melbourne as an investment destination.

He said he already sold two properties and planned to reduce his remaining holdings.

New government policies around property investment had also influenced his decision.

Mr Yang added that his friends in China, who had asked him about visiting Melbourne or sending their kids there to study, were also increasingly worried about safety.

"I think this incident will definitely affect their willingness," he said.

On social media, Chinese citizens with plans to visit Melbourne had been also asking: "Is Melbourne really this chaotic?"

Echo chamber or 'Little Gotham'?

Blake Li, who lives in China's Sichuan province, said he had been following reports about Mr Feng's stabbing among other criminal incidents on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

He said social media could create a misleading impression, so he tried "to cross-check information before accepting it".

Mr Li also questioned whether Melbourne deserved the "Little Gotham" label, arguing that many types of crime also occurred in Chinese cities.

"Robberies, killings and arson can happen in any city," he said.

Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency figures show the state's crime rate peaked in 2025 before dropping 3.8 per cent in the 12 months to June 2026.

Crime rates in the City of Melbourne follow a similar pattern.

However, the City of Melbourne's 2025–26 annual report found only 34 per cent of women and 49 per cent of men surveyed felt safe at night, compared to 35 per cent and 51 per cent in the previous year.

Sharon Kwok, a criminology lecturer at Western Sydney University, said crime statistics and perceptions of safety sometimes differed.

Highly publicised incidents, known as "signal crimes", could have a disproportionate impact because people identified with victims who shared their ethnic background, she said.

"If I'm Chinese and the person who was killed is also Chinese, I might think, 'This could happen to me too.'"

Dr Kwok said proximity also mattered, with people more likely to feel threatened when a crime happened near places they regularly visited.

She said many people in the local Chinese community relied on WeChat for news and information, and followed commentary from key opinion leaders, including Chinese influencers.

"When the same story was repeated by many voices, including friends and family, it could grow in an echo chamber," she said.