Tourist claims to have been beaten by a low-priced tour guide at a shopping site; relevant departments in Guilin have intervened

Tourist Claims Injury in Altercation with Tour Guide at Shopping Stop

Recently, Mr. Li from Pingdingshan, Henan Province, reported to The Paper’s public interaction platform “Service Pai” (https://tousu.thepaper.cn) that on December 1st, while following a low-priced tour group organized by Guilin Shanhai Travel Agency to a shopping stop, he had a conflict with the tour guide, Ms. Liu, who stated that “if you don’t make any purchases, you must pay the difference in price.” This led to a physical altercation where Mr. Li’s face was scratched, and his right cornea was damaged. Afterwards, he was also surrounded and insulted by Ms. Liu and others.

Regarding this dispute, on December 4th, a reporter from The Paper contacted the travel agency involved. The relevant person in charge of the agency stated that the tour guide Ms. Liu had been suspended from her duties to assist in the investigation, and the other tourists continued their trip with a new guide without being affected. In response to the allegation of forced shopping, the person in charge said, “The tourist cannot provide evidence of being forced to shop by the guide. It is possible that the facts have been unilaterally exaggerated and distorted.”

Mr. Li said that when he was insulted by Ms. Liu, he first pushed her, and then she retaliated. “If the other party was injured during the mutual fight, I am also willing to compensate according to the judicial appraisal report.”

A staff member from the Complaint Center of the Enforcement Squad of Guilin Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism Bureau responded to The Paper that the incident was under investigation.

Mr. Li joined a “6-day tour of Shaoshan, Guilin, and Yangshuo” at a low price after being recommended by a friend in November 2024. The promotional poster stated that the tour was a “VIP exclusive event” with “government and scenic spot subsidies.” The introduction on the poster’s link indicated that there would be “4+2 shopping stops throughout the tour. Visits to supermarkets and ethnic minority villages are not considered shopping stops, and tourists are free to purchase items during the scheduled shopping time with the guide.”

On November 30th, the local guide Ms. Liu received the tour group. Mr. Li said that she did not show her tour guide license or inform the tourists of the travel agency she belonged to.

On December 1st, Ms. Liu took the tour group to a kitchenware store in Wayao Town. Mr. Li stated that Ms. Liu informed the tourists that there would be about four shopping stops due to the low price of the tour and encouraged them to buy whatever they liked. For the next 20 minutes, the tour group was subjected to sales pitches by the staff in the showroom. During this time, Mr. Li looked down at his phone to check a message, and Ms. Liu told him not to use his phone. When he left the showroom to go to the corridor, he was stopped by Ms. Liu again.

“She said that if I didn’t make any purchases, I would have to pay the difference for the low-priced tour,” Mr. Li said. He believed that the guide had no right to restrict tourists’ use of their phones or to demand payment of the difference. He asked Ms. Liu to show her tour guide license and inform him of her travel agency. “After she refused to show it, she started insulting me. I couldn’t bear it anymore, so I pushed her and punched her. Then she retaliated. During the process, I was scratched on my face multiple times, and my right eye was injured by her fingernail.”

On December 1st, police from Pingshan Police Station in Guilin took Mr. Li and Ms. Liu to the station to make statements. Mr. Li said that due to his injured right eye and decreased vision, he went to the hospital for examination first. The medical record he provided showed that the hospital diagnosed him with a corneal abrasion on his right eye.

Later that afternoon, Mr. Li went to the Guilin Branch of Xiangya Second Hospital of Central South University for another examination. The diagnosis was corneal abrasion, epithelial injury of the right cornea, facial abrasions, and other injuries.

On December 2nd, Mr. Li returned to Pingshan Police Station. He said that the police station suggested both parties reconcile, but he refused because his right eye was severely injured, and he was unsure if there would be more serious consequences later on. The police station then imposed administrative penalties on both parties. Subsequently, Mr. Li applied for a judicial appraisal, and the police station entrusted the Judicial Expertise Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University to conduct the appraisal for him.

Offline mediation failed, and the tourist claimed to have been surrounded by the tour guide. On the day of the injury, Mr. Li called the complaint hotline of Guilin Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism Bureau multiple times. He said that the staff stated that they needed the information of the travel agency to handle the complaint, but “Ms. Liu never provided any relevant information.”

On December 3rd, Mr. Li brought the judicial appraisal letter to the Complaint Center of Guilin Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism Bureau for an offline complaint. The staff confirmed that the tour guide belonged to Guilin Shanhai Travel Agency. In the afternoon, the Bureau mediated between Mr. Li and Shanhai Travel Agency. He said that during the mediation, the person in charge of the travel agency promised that “the local travel agency would be responsible for Mr. Li’s current medical expenses. After the judicial appraisal results come out in three months, the subsequent medical expenses will have nothing to do with the local travel agency.”

Mr. Li said he would consider it and give an answer the next day.

However, on the way out of the Complaint Center, Mr. Li encountered Ms. Liu again. “She was standing on the side of the road with four other people. I didn’t see them at first because my vision is very poor now,” Mr. Li said. “When she saw me, she started shouting, ‘It’s him, it’s him,’ and then the five of them surrounded me, blocked my way, insulted me, and prepared to attack. I called the police immediately.”

The tour guide involved has been suspended from her duties, and relevant departments have intervened to investigate. Regarding the compensation for this incident, Mr. Li said he hoped it would be determined based on the recovery of his eye and whether his face leaves any scars. “If the other party was injured during the mutual fight, I am also willing to compensate according to the judicial appraisal report.”

On December 4th, The Paper called Shanhai Travel Agency. The relevant person in charge of the agency stated that the current situation of the tourist was unknown, and they had not contacted him after the mediation. “The travel agency has filed a case with the public security department, and the Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism Bureau is also coordinating. Ms. Liu has been suspended from her duties to assist in the investigation,” the person in charge said. “The tourist cannot provide evidence of being forced to shop by the guide. It is possible that the facts have been unilaterally exaggerated and distorted. I hope everyone will not take one-sided words as the truth.”

The person in charge of the travel agency mentioned above said that the relevant tour group had been taken over by a new guide and continued their trip without any impact on the itinerary.

The video provided by Shanhai Travel Agency showed that Mr. Li and the tour guide Ms. Liu first had a verbal conflict, which then escalated into a physical altercation as both parties’ emotions intensified. The Paper noticed that in the 4th second of the video, Mr. Li pushed Ms. Liu, and in the 8th second, both parties started fighting each other. In the 11th second, staff from the shopping stop tried to break up the fight, but both parties continued fighting. In the 27th second, the two were separated and continued their verbal argument until the police arrived.

On the same day, The Paper called the Complaint Center of the Enforcement Squad of Guilin Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism Bureau, and the staff said that the relevant incident was under investigation and no conclusion had been reached yet. When contacted, staff from Guilin Pingshan Police Station said that the progress of the incident could not be disclosed over the phone and required a face-to-face consultation.