NewChinese tourist ‘suffers concussion, broken hand’ in attack over horse-riding fees in Lijiang

Officials in Yulong county, Lijiang, are investigating a female tourist’s claims that staff at a local horse-riding centre beat her up, leaving her with a broken hand and a concussion, after she refused to pay for a horse-riding session she did not want.

The middle-aged Xinjiang woman filed a complaint against the centre to local officials last week over the incident that occurred on December 1, The Beijing Times reported.

According to the woman, she was touring Lijiang – a popular tourist destination in Yunnan province – with her family of four and had booked a car at her hostel to drive them to and from tourist spots they were visiting. The driver charged just 100 yuan a day (HK$126), she said.

He took them to the horse-riding centre, but she wanted to leave because her 76-year-old father was too old to ride a horse. The driver then asked them to pay for a 100-yuan ticket each before leaving so he could get a cut from the centre’s earnings.

When she refused, a man led about a dozen of the centre’s staff members to attack her, the woman alleged. They chased her, pushed her to the ground, punched her in the face and kicked her repeatedly, she said.

The attack caused her to suffer a concussion and left her with broken bones in one hand, the woman said.