A tour guide went on trial on Tuesday in southwest China's Yunnan Province on charges of stabbing 20 people with a 22-cm-long knife in a well-known tourist town in the province this April.

Xu Minchao, 25, from northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, accompanied a 40-member tour group from the northeastern Jilin Province to the ancient city of Lijiang on the afternoon of April 1, when he got into an argument with a local guide surnamed Peng, the Lijiang Municipal Intermediate People's Court heard.

After the dispute, Xu was alleged to have suddenly lost control and pulled a knife on a saleswoman at a roadside souvenir shop. He then chased several people in the street stabbing and slashing them.

He allegedly stabbed 15 tourists and five locals, seriously injuring two boys: a seven-year-old local and a 15-year-old tourist from the eastern Anhui Province.

The older boy, who suffered brain injuries, remains hospitalized, the court heard.

Xu was arrested at around 4:30 p.m. the same day.

Earlier reports quoted Lijiang police as saying that the motive for the attack might be linked to his unhappy childhood.

Local people believe the incident stemmed from the argument with Peng regarding kickbacks from souvenir shops -- the bulk of some guides' incomes comes from commissions paid by souvenir shops if tourists buy their products.

The judges reserved their verdict on Tuesday.

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2007)