Unhappy childhood contributes to rampage
Trip Start
Jan 30, 2007
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14
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Trip End
Dec 31, 2011
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Lijiang,
China
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
He was also involved in a dispute about kickebacks from souvenir shops in Lijiang to tour guides.
Here is the latest from China Daily and Reuters.
Unhappy childhood cited as China tour guide stabs 20(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-04-04 11:09
A tour guide in southwest China stabbed 20 tourists and locals in an attack blamed on a row over kickbacks from souvenir shops and possibly linked to an unhappy childhood, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.
Xu Minchao, 25, was leading 40 tourists through Lijiang, a World Heritage-listed tourist destination in mountainous Yunnan province, on Sunday when he suddenly ran into a souvenir shop and demanded a knife, Xinhua said. "Not realizing the man was ready to kill, a girl in the shop gave him one and was stabbed immediately in the arm," Xinhua said. Xu ran back out onto the street to stab and slash four residents and 15 tourists. Two boys were seriously injured, including a 15-year-old who remained in critical condition in hospital after suffering brain injuries, Xinhua said. Some 20 police and volunteers caught Xu after he fled into a local home, Xinhua added.
Xu's rampage was spurred by an argument with a local guide surnamed Peng regarding kickbacks from souvenir shops, Xinhua said, citing residents. In China, tour guide incomes are often derived solely from commissions obtained from tourists' purchases at designated gift shops and restaurants. "Though most travel services have rules against taking kickbacks, it's very difficult to implement (them) because most of the guides are part-timers and do not report to the companies," Xinhua quoted Li Wei, a tourism official in Yunnan's provincial capital, Kunming, as saying. Police were also investigating whether the attack was linked to an unhappy childhood, Xinhua said.
"Xu ... broke down in tears when talking about his parent's divorce and how it overshadowed his childhood, according to local police," it said.
And this:
Xu Minchao, a 25-year-old tourist guide with a travel agency in northeast China's Jilin Province, was arrested Sunday in the ancient city of Lijiang on the charges of stabbing 15 tourists and five locals, Life News reported Tuesday.
Two boys were seriously injured, including seven-year-old Xiao Wen whose artery on the neck was cut open by the enraged guide and a 15-year-old tourist from east China's Anhui Province who suffered brain injuries and remains in critical condition. "Heavy blood loss almost killed Xiao Wen. Thanks to the experts who flew from Kunming (the capital of Yunnan) and operated on him that very night, my son was saved from the jaws of death." Mr. Ye, Xiaowen's father, told the paper.
Police said Xu was accompanying a 40-member tour group from the northeastern Jilin Province to Lijiang when he got into an argument with a guide surnamed Peng from a Kunming-based travel agency on Sunday afternoon.
After Peng left, Xu went to "borrow" a knife from a roadside souvenir shop. Then, he suddenly lost control and stabbed a saleswoman at the shop before going on a stabbing rampage. "He slashed at whomever within his reach, without even a word." witnesses said. A total of 20 people, including 15 tourists and 5 local residents or business people from other parts of the country, suffered injuries at his hands.
Tourists on the tour group said Xu once spoke of and cried over his divorced parents, looking rather depressed, which police suspect might have led to his stabbing rampage. The Lijiang government said they have sent the best doctors from the provincial capital Kunming to treat the injured people, and local police are investigating whether Xu has a history of mental illness. But tourist guides say it is not uncommon for Kunming guides to be attacked. Xiao Long, a travel guide with three-year working experience, said after learning of the incident, "It's nothing big, Kunming guides tend to be attacked at local tourist sites." Liu, another local tourist guide, also told the paper it is common for the tourist guide from Kunming to be beaten up, because they often stop tourist from shopping in places outside the capital city.
"Though Yunnan has always advocated 'no-barrier' tourism, protectionism still exists when it comes to shopping." Liu was quoted as saying. But they all say stabbing rampage aimed at tourists is quite rare.
