Of course I agree there is crime anywhere but some places are more dangerous than others. To be honest you mentioned the Guangxi Daxue district and its true that just recently far too many undesirables have been hanging around the area. In fact, I lived in that area for quite a long time and yet even with the sudden upsurge of a criminal element I'm still very very comfortable walking around late at night. One of Nannings newest problems is that influx of bad guys as the city undergoes massive growth and a sudden upswing of wealth. Not only wealth in Nanning but the attraction of money from Vietnamese (ethnic and nationals). In fact, I have seen it firsthand. The good thing is that despite me being right in the middle of it all they had almost zero interest in foreigners and went out of their way to avoid it. So in that sense foreigners won't be involved in what are underworld gangland activities. (they do not want us involved at all).

I did hear something about the attempted mugging of the Swedish guy at Langdong about 3 years ago. I know where it happened and again this area has far too many transients (many are not from Nanning) and the types who basically go from station to station and hang around outside looking to pickpocket or scam or some kind of nasty thing. In fact, I think they target Nanning because Nanning people are typically more easy-going, laid-back and less alert to such things. Add to that increasing numbers of foreigners passing through and living in Nanning - often easy targets (or so they think until getting a punch).

So yes its true crime is everywhere and can happen to anyone at any time. Heck, my hometown in Canada is literally where people leave doors unlocked and you'd walk through the dark park at midnight and never even dream of a bad guy and yet amazingly a horrific crime happened (i wont even describe it) by someones cousin who was visiting for the summer. shocking!

but overall there are also some general truths that may happen more often in some places than others. Generally speaking Zhengzhou people are more surly (hostile, aggressive, defensive, rough, tough) and forget about being murdered or robbed I just mean facing a tough guy who will be easily prepared to rough you up. Generally speaking you will find only a few people like that in Nanning. Generally speaking Zhengzhou people are aggressive, generally speaking Nanning people are passive. Generally speaking there are more bars in Zhengzhou with large burly men who are happy to fist-fight if you want. Generally speaking there are more slim quiet guys in Nanning bars who will try and trade you cigarettes first.

It's something foreigners should consider. BTW: I'm not complaining - when a little gang of fake gangsters tried to intimidate me and my wife in Zhengzhou I was never happier to see them met with a real big cleaning aunty, a big surly Zhengzhou security guard who did not hesitate to ask the "gangsters" if they wanted trouble or they wanted to run. They chose to run and fast. So.. arguably big surly rough people can be a good thing too.