Shop brawl: Chinese tourist beaten to death in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Oct 20: A Chinese tourist died in Hong Kong on Wednesday, police said, after he was beaten unconscious in a row over "forced shopping".

The 54-year-old, was found unconscious outside a jewellery shop in the commercial district of Hung Hom when police arrived on the scene yesterday morning. He died today in hospital.

The victim, named as Miao Chunqi by the South China Morning Post, a construction contractor from northern China, was trying to calm a row between two women -- a fellow tourist and the tour group's leader.

Local media said the dispute started because the female tourist did not want to buy goods in the shop.

Many mainland Chinese visitors come to the southern Chinese city as part of travel groups and have complained about "forced shopping" in recent years, where they are taken to stores by tour leaders and pressured into buying products.

"Initial investigations revealed that while two women aged 32 and 53 were fighting over shopping affairs, the man stepped in to mediate and was attacked by others," police said today.

Two women have been arrested for fighting in a public place and two men were also arrested in what is now a manslaughter case. The cause of death was yet to be determined, police said.

"We have zero tolerance for such violence," the city's Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung told the Post.

The Council has previously said they received complaints from mainland visitors alleging that their tour guides forced them to stay in shops even when they wanted to leave.

AFP