Zhang Jing, who had been rejected over 1,000 times while job-hunting, blamed her plain looks, and decided to undergo a free plastic surgery operation at 10:00am on September 22 at a clinic in Tianjin in North China.

Zhang Jing smiles in the hope that she would oneday become good-looking.

This was despite having abandoned an earlier cosmetic procedure due to poor health, the Beijing-based Star Daily reported.

After the operation the young woman remained at home to recover, refusing media interviews due to her persistent health problems.

Her aim had been to change her face, with its wrinkles, flat nose and cupped mouth, which she thought made her look like an old granny.

The operation went successfully. Her eyelids were doubled and her nose straightened. The next step was to shape the eyebrows and remove the wrinkles from her forehead. The whole procedure would take about 45 to 60 days, after which her looks would be greatly improved, according to the clinic, called "Tongji".

"Beauty doesn't figure even in my wildest dreams. I just want to be a normal person and find a job to support my parents and my aunt. To have plastic surgery is my great hope," the patient said.

Zhang Jing, 25, lives in Tianjin. She began searching for work even before completing her nine-year compulsory education. But because of her looks, she failed to gain a job, although she kept hunting.

She was born in a poor family in which all the members had disability certificate. Her father suffers from infantile paralysis and her mother has serious uremia. Her aunt has a mental disorder. She herself has been suffering from uremia inherited from her mother and is also registered as suffering from "slight amentia" (mental deficiency) in her own disability certificate.

"But I never received any intellectual examination in the hospital when they compiled this certificate," Zhang said. "I don't think my brain has any problems. I don't know why they wrote this. Maybe because of my looks."

The four-person family depends on an income of 600 yuan (US$73) per month.

After careful consideration, Zhang asked the local media for help this July. This resulted in a job at the Youyuan Home for the Aged. When remembering the past, she still has a lingering fear.

Unbearable school life

School, for Zhang, was a dismal experience full of strange looks from classmates and discrimination from teachers. During her nine years of school life, all her exams were marked with one point out of five, without even being checked.

"I'm not that poor at my studies actually. I can pass them at least," said Zhang. "I've never been happy at school. Humiliation is the only thing that remains imprinted in my mind."

She was once kicked in the belly by her classmate and then rolled down stairs. The teacher just stood by, doing nothing but scold the boy who attacked her. "How I wished my teacher could have held me up and removed the dust from my clothes!" she added.

"I still hate them. If they hadn't treated me like that, I wouldn't have been what I am today," Zhang said, shaking her thin arms emotionally.

Frustrating job-hunt

"After graduation from junior middle school I applied for more than 1,000 jobs. I had only one meal every day and never took a bus," said Zhang, who knows clearly that her family is poverty-stricken.

Once she applied for a job as a waitress in a small restaurant. The boss, on seeing her face, rejected her immediately: "You will frighten all my guests away." Speechless, she had to give up.

She has become numb to experience which would deeply insult most of us. "It was then that I realized what a shock my looks were to others," she said calmly, smiling.

Zhang still had her moment of glory when she was employed as an operator five years ago, receiving the highest salary due to her gentle and sweet voice.

"Honestly speaking, other people told me encouragingly that I was much better than a prostitute, but at least they can support themselves by depending on their own face, I can't do that," she added in a low tone.

It was also in this glorious period that she found the man she loves. He is the boss of the telephone exchange. "I loved him secretly because I know it's impossible," she said.

On Valentine's Day, 2001, Zhang bought him a bundle of 99 roses and three boxes of chocolates with the money she earned by selling 200ml of her own blood. Her affection turned into a nightmare.

The man returned the roses but kept the chocolates, which were later shared with his colleagues. She had to quit the job and say goodbye to her glory.

"He only wanted to take advantage of her," said Zhang's friend, named Xiao Wang.

"I still can't eliminate him from my mind. Love needs no reason," Zhang said calmly.

In the Youyuan Home for the Aged, Zhang Jing's work won high regard from the president, surnamed Xue.

"She works very hard. I won't give up on her so long as I am here," Xue said. "But I can't guarantee I will be in charge of this place forever."

Xue said she could help one Zhang Jing, but if there was to be a second or a third, she couldn't support them all.

Liu Changli, an official from the Tianjin Nankai District Disabled Association, said the association was likely to help Zhang, for instance with some financial support, pending an investigation. Generally speaking, such support would be 200 yuan (US$24) per month.

"We will try our best to help her," Liu said. "But to tell you the truth, there are many families in the district that are even poorer."

Now there are over 2,600 disabled people in the Nankai District. But the fund for the disabled is only a little over 500,000 yuan (US$60,000). According to the law, the annual interest, which comes to about 4,000 yuan (US$484), can be used to support disabled people.

"Such a small figure is utterly inadequate," Liu said.

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