Dutch man waits for 10 days at Chinese airport to meet online girlfriend

The woman told media she thought it had all been a joke

Love hurts and it literally did send a Dutch man to hospital after he remained stranded at Chinese airport for 10 days to meet this girl he had met online.

41-year-old Alexander Pieter Cirk flew from Holland to Hunan province in hopes of meeting up a Chinese woman, 26-year-old Zhang.

The two got introduced to each other in an app two months ago and became fond of each other, eventually planning to arrange a meeting.

Dutch man waited in Hunan airport for 10days for "Chinese girlfriend" that refuse to show up https://t.co/o6yYBGNMJ3https://t.co/2L9jWVSjmC

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) July 31, 2016

Cirk was stranded at Changsha airport after he refused to leave the airport when Zhang did not show up to meet him.

The 10-day waiting sent the Dutch man to a hospital where he was treated for physical exhaustion as reported by Hunan TV.



Interestingly, Zhnag contacted the TV channel a day after the report was aired and said she had thought the entire episode to be a joke.

PHOTO COURTESY: WEIBO

"We had advanced our romantic relationship but later he seemed a little callous towards me," Zhang told Hunan TV.

"One day he sent me a photo of air tickets abruptly and I thought it was a joke. He didn't contact me later."

Zhang went on to add that she was actually in another province going through a plastic surgery and turned her phone off by the time Cirk had arrived at the airport to meet her.

Meanwhile, Chinese social media users failed to show much sympathy to lovesick Cirk with the majority of them pointing to the apparent absurdity of the man’s actions.

"He must be stupid, why would anyone do this?" asked one user.

"Doesn't he know that everything in China is fake?" another commented.

PHOTO COURTESY: WEIBO

"Perhaps she did go to the airport, saw what he looked like, and promptly turned back around," another user remarked.



However, some other users did show some sympathy towards Cirk.

"Here's a guy taking a relationship seriously, don't play around with his feelings," a sensitive social media user said adding, "If you don't want him anymore, tell him so he can go home."

One user went on to ask if, "What does this say about Chinese integrity?"

While Cirk was preparing to fly back home earlier this week, Zhang was reported as saying that she would be keen to meet him after she recovers from surgery and that she was still interested in maintaining their relationship.

The article first appeared on BBC