Kunming is a favorite destination for foreign travelers and the city has a bubbling expat community.

At around 9:30 pm on Saturday, 23-year-old German Tobias Schindler and two friends were entering the railway station when they heard screams and saw people running.

"We wanted to take the 11 pm train to Dali. We walked to the train station and saw one guy (who was) really bloody. Everybody just started running, running, running. We just followed them," Schindler said.