GUANGZHOU, China (Kyodo) -- A Chinese court on Friday held its first hearing on a fatal stabbing last September in Shenzhen, in which a 10-year-old boy whose father was Japanese and mother Chinese was killed, the Japanese Consulate General in Guangzhou said.

A Chinese man in his 40s has admitted to injuring the boy with a knife on Sept. 18 last year near a Japanese school in the southern Chinese city. The country's authorities have yet to disclose the suspect's motive and said it was "an isolated incident."

The boy died a day after being stabbed while on his way to school. The alleged attacker was detained by police at the scene.

The stabbing occurred on the 93rd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of a railroad track near Shenyang, which marked the start of the Manchurian Incident that led to Japan's invasion of northeastern China.

The incident sent shockwaves toward Japanese expat communities in China. Tokyo has repeatedly asked Beijing to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals living in the country.

The hearing was held a day after a Chinese court sentenced a man to death over a knife attack near Shanghai last June that injured a Japanese mother and her child and killed a Chinese bus attendant who tried to protect them.

While there had been speculation the convict Zhou Jiasheng, 52, might have targeted Japanese nationals, the court in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, made no mention of Japan in rendering the ruling.