What is concerning is the attacks against foreigners for no reason other than say taking a photo with a chinese girl. The overall murder rate may well be lower than the USA, that still does not mean China is any safer. The amount of attacks may well be higher, saw a guy get stabbed in the back with a broken piece of metal piping on the street in broad daylight in Shenzhen, in the USA there is gun crime, in China there are people who will use bats/knifes/meat cleavers/pipes.
Interesting data.
At the bottom of the list, we read that there is no large difference between the rates (5-7) of the various categories between Low Income and Upper Middle Income. The difference appears only for High Income which see a much lower rate (2).
China and New Zealand are equivalent within margins of error.
Australia is slightly above them.
Canada marginally above Australia.
The U.S. is 4 to 5 times the level of China and New Zealand
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5
No doubt you are certain that your personal experience trumps World Bank and U.N. statisticians.