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Chinese woman marries soldier who rescued her from earthquake debris when she was 11
A Chinese woman married the soldier who rescued her during the earthquake after the two unexpectedly reunited years later.
A Chinese woman who was rescued as a child from the debris of the devastating Wenchuan earthquake has married the soldier who pulled her to safety.
The remarkable story surfaced on November 29 in Changsha, Hunan province, during the Fifth Annual Han style Collective Wedding Ceremony where 37 couples gathered to wed. As reported by South China Morning Post, the couple, Liang Zhibin and Liu Ximei, shared a love story that began more than 15 years ago in extraordinary circumstances.
A rescue that changed two lives
In 2008, when the Wenchuan earthquake struck, 22-year-old Liang was serving as a soldier deployed for emergency rescue operations. Liu, then only ten, was trapped on the second floor of a collapsed building, pinned beneath steel bars and bricks. Liang and his team dug tirelessly for four hours before finally freeing her and sending her to hospital for treatment. After her recovery, Liu and her family moved back to Zhuzhou in Hunan.
For years, she held only a faint memory of her rescuer. “For many years, I could not remember what his face looked like. All I had was a blurry image of a figure in my mind,” Liu said.
A chance encounter in a restaurant
Everything changed in 2020 when 22-year-old Liu was dining with her parents in Changsha. Her mother noticed a man at a nearby table and whispered that he looked strikingly similar to the soldier who had once saved her life. Liu approached him and said, “Brother Liang? Is that you?”
“I was so excited and a bit embarrassed,” Liu recalled. Liang admitted that he did not recognise her because she had changed so much.
From reconnection to love
That evening, Liu added his contact details and soon began chatting with him regularly. As they spent more time talking, Liu realised the depth of her feelings. Liang’s resilience and loyalty impressed her, and she eventually confessed her love first.
“I do not love him out of gratitude,” she said. “It was through spending time together that I realised this is someone I can entrust my life to.”
Liang too was moved by her sincerity. “She is a ray of light in my life. Whenever I feel low, her positivity lifts me up and reminds me that life is still full of hope,” he said.
A wedding that fulfilled destiny
Reflecting on their journey, Liang said, “Back then, saving people was my duty, but now I truly love her. These are two different things. Fate is truly amazing. Twelve years ago, I saved her. Twelve years later, she became the light in my life.”
