Yeah, knife-control is definitely a Sisyphean sort of task, but the government does try to figure out how to respond immediately after an event. I was here when the first big school-stabbing happened. (I guess maybe that was the Nanping one.) I say "first," because that was the first I can remember making international headlines. Within two weeks, all the guards at schools had those fork things, which can definitely take down a guy with a knife.
Maybe a major difference is that people here really, really like children. I mean, Chinese just love the hell out of children. Take a puling baby into a restaurant and you're going to get the best service ever, plus tables-full of fascinated spectators going, "Daaaww..." Some people here aren't too keen on foreigners, to be honest, but if their children are fascinated by your ability to magically pull off your thumb or raise one eyebrow, you're gold. So if a knife hurts a kid, people will say, "Yeah, seems like knives have got to go."