A YOUNG trainee doctor in China has been hailed a true “angel in white” for rushing to the rescue of a man who passed out on the street in pouring rain.
The Suzhou University medical student wasn’t in her white coat when she pulled off the rescue, though. Instead, she was dressed in a white mullet dress, which became soiled when she kneeled by the man’s side on the rain-soaked street.
The incident, which took place in Shanghai last Friday, was caught on camera and the videos have been viewed millions of times on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
Speaking to Chinese media on Tuesday, Ms Zhang Xinyu said she was dressed as a Japanese anime princess that rainy night because she was working as an emcee at the Bilibili World anime convention.
After leaving the venue, she got into a car with her friends and they were caught in bad traffic. Her driver told her that a man appeared to have fainted on the busy road.
The young man, Mr Zhang Mingmin, also attended the same anime convention.
In videos circulated online, the student from Shandong is seen walking alone before suddenly falling forward, landing face first on the road and remaining motionless.
A few passers-by are seen carrying him out of a puddle and holding an umbrella over him, as a woman in a white, princessy cosplay costume races towards them. She quickly applies pressure on the fainted man’s chest, and as he regains consciousness, she asks him to take deep breaths.
Ms Zhang is the heroine in the video. She said in a video on her Douyin account that Mr Zhang had passed out because of low blood sugar levels, as he had eaten just a biscuit for the whole day.
She added that her friends called the ambulance, and she accompanied Mr Zhang to the hospital and stayed with him until a doctor confirmed that his vital signs had stabilised.
Two days after the incident, Mr Zhang returned to the convention centre to thank Ms Zhang, who reminded him to have enough rest and food.
In a video interview, Mr Zhang told Phoenix Weekly: “I can remember her tapping on my chest, getting me to wake up. If not for her, I really don’t know what would happen to me.”
“But I was saved, and by a pretty girl. Thinking back, I’m actually quite happy,” he said with a sheepish smile.
Ms Zhang, who had obtained her medical practitioner’s licence a year earlier but is still in training, said it took a team’s effort to save the man.
“Some held umbrellas for us, some called the emergency hotline. Everyone responded to the emergency together,” she said, adding: “I did only what a doctor is meant to do.”
She maintained that her dream was to stay on track to become a full-fledged doctor and wear the costume she truly wanted to.
“Cosplay is a hobby, saving lives is my instinct. My dream of putting on the white coat will never change,” said Ms Zhang. - The Straits Times/ANN
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