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April 10, 2014. The normally serene atmosphere of West Lake, Hangzhou was pierced by screams as a child fell into its waters.
Zhou Liangzhen was a 52-year-old man suffering from high blood pressure, disc herniation, and a series of other diseases. He was out with friends at the time, but he heard the anguished shrieks for help, and turned just in time to see an elderly woman jump after her grandchild.
But neither could swim — and although Zhou had not gone into the water for over a decade, he dove in right after them.
"It was a conditioned reflex," he said later. Zhou is an orthopedic doctor at the Beijing Chinese Medicine Hospital.
The child was only three years old, having accidentally fallen into the water. His grandmother had panicked, diving into an alien environment as an act of desperation.
From when the child first fell to when Zhou, laboring under the weight of his passenger, finally arrived ashore, nobody remembered nor dared to take a single picture. It was a thin stretch of time that was so intense, so thrilling, the first picture was of Zhou helping the old woman climb ashore.
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Zhou swam while bearing the burden of two on his back. He was not in the best state of health, despite being an athlete in his youth. [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
The family were down on their knees, thanking Zhou over and over, earnestly offering to treat him to lunch, to buy him new clothes—but he walked away from it all. "It's cold out," he said. "Don't get sick, so best change your clothes now."
He later found out that his phone and camera had been destroyed by the water.
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Zhou, shivering and soaked after his rescue, humbly refusing every thank-you present offered. [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
"But the only word I thought of back then was 'save', and nothing else," he said. "I'm a doctor. It's a life-saving reflex."
The horror caught up with him after he came ashore. The lake was two meters deep where he was, stinking of fish, and muddy with black sewage. "I got scared then. That I couldn't do it. That if I went under the water again, I wouldn't have the energy to save anyone at all."
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Zhou is a highly decorated orthopedic doctor, with profound respect for his patients. [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
Zhou has been a doctor for 30 years, always praised for caring about his patients, and always treating them with kindness and benevolence.
Edited by Wang Zili
