Woman in China Haidilao beats up man who allegedly insulted her unprovoked

A woman in China was hailed as "a hero" by social media users after she beat up a man at a Haidilao outlet in the southern Chinese city of Changsha on Oct. 12.

The scene of the fight was caught on camera by onlookers, and the footage was circulated widely online.

What videos showed

According to the videos, the man, dressed in a white t-shirt, could be seen arguing with the woman before grabbing a metal poster stand and throwing it at her.

In response, the woman threw pieces of vegetables at him, prompting one of her friends, donned in a nude-coloured dress, to intervene by putting herself between them.

However, her friend's actions did not appear to appease the man, as he continued talking back at the woman and telling her that he would ask for the CCTV camera footage and "extort all her money" as he is "a lawyer in Hong Kong".

Fight escalated

The fight quickly escalated, as the man, who was on the ground, began to hit the woman's head with an object at least five times while kicking her.

However, the woman did not back down, as she could be seen slapping the man and hitting him with her high heels repeatedly while grabbing onto his hair.

During the struggle, she also asked him, "Are you more noble because you are from Hong Kong? [Who gave you the right to] speak lowly of Changsha people?"

As a result of their grappling, pieces of hair, believed to be the woman's hair extensions, and the man's spectacles fell to the ground.

Woman's side of the story

After the videos went viral, the woman decided to come forward and share her account of what happened on the day of the incident.

In a live stream session, the woman, who identified herself as Jiang Yan, said the man was a "complete stranger" who sat at a table behind her and her friends.

However, for "unknown reasons", the man "walked up to their table" and began calling the people of Changsha "poor people with despicable taste and character".

The insults were apparently unprovoked.

Jiang & friends 'wanted to leave', but man 'kept cursing'

At first, Jiang did not want to escalate their dispute, as one of the man's friends "kept apologising on his behalf", she recounted.

The group even considered leaving the premises even though they didn't finish their food, but they put the plan on hold after the man "caught up to them" and "continued cursing at them".

At one point, he also said he could "easily treat the group to 30 boxes of alcohol", which he believed they could not afford, shared Jiang.

According to her, after the fight broke out, the man hit her head "more than 10 times with his mobile phone", whereas she only managed to hit back three or four times with her high heels.

By the time the fight was over and the man left the outlet, he also "did not pay for his food" and "left the bill to his friend", who had apologised on his behalf earlier, said Jiang.

Jiang added that she "stands ready to take responsibility for her actions after setting the record straight".

Jiang discourages fighting

Jiang's action quickly won her praise online, with many social media users applauding her for standing up for herself and the people of her city.

Some also found a resemblance between her and Wu Song, a fictional character from Chinese novel "Water Margin", who is known for killing a man-eating tiger.

However, it appeared that there were also individuals who decided to take advantage of the situation by impersonating Jiang and selling the videos of the fight for money.

In response, Jiang published a Douyin video on Oct. 14, emphasising that she would "never sell any videos for profit" or "ask anyone to give her a monetary reward for her actions".

"I also want to make it clear that fighting is never the solution. I would also like to ask everyone not to encourage such behaviour," added Jiang.

Top images via 尤物姜颜/Douyin & X