Chinese female peacekeeper wins UN award in S. Sudan
Xu He
Zhang Qin, a female soldier of Chinese peacekeeping force in Juba, capital of South Sudan, was awarded honorable medal of peace by the UN officials on Oct 4.
Zhang Qin, a female soldier of Chinese peacekeeping force in Juba, capital of South Sudan, was awarded honorable medal of peace, along with her comrades in arms, by the UN officials on Oct 4.
Schumacher, deputy special representative of UN Mission in South Sudan, highly appreciated China's support for UN peacekeeping operations and expressed his gratitude to the female peacekeepers' contribution to the peace in South Sudan.
Zhang Qin studied in Chengdu University and majored in radio and television before enlisting. She always wanted to join the army and enlisted during her sophomore in 2013.
She wrote in her diary: "My dream has come true, and it makes me realize if one thing is your true love, you have to experience it by your own, then you can know what on earth the dream means."
"I will stay true to my original self and fulfill my dream," she added.
Zhang is proficient in shooting, thread connection, climbing and other military skills, and is also fluent in English, Arabic, Japanese.
When she was a new recruit, shooting was a big challenge for her. She was required to adjust shooting distance and ballistic trajectory in terms of the target location instantly, and change the shooting posture in accordance with different topography.
To aim precisely, she always appeared first on the training ground and practiced aiming at one target for hours with a helmet or kettle hanging at the rifle.
"I thought she was a little girl and would change her mind as she grew up, but she has surprised me by persisting with her dream," Zhang Qin's father said.
Zhang applied for deployment in South Sudan in Aug, 2016.
"Many places are unstable in the world, and someone has to stand up to help,” Zhang Qin said to her parents.
According to the information released by UN, South Sudan is one of the most dangerous regions in the world. On the streets of Juba, armed men and trucks carrying guns can often be seen.
China stationed UN peacekeepers and medical teams in the region years ago. To protect civilians, Li Lei and Yang Shupeng, the two honored Chinese peacekeepers, sacrificed in South Sudan's local armed conflict in July 2016.
"Once I came face to face with danger. There was a gun aimed at me," Zhang Qin recalled.
"Several armed men intruded into the no-weapons area," she said. "Faced with the emergency, we decided to deter them with force and make them hand over their weapons."
But she rarely talks about this with her family.
In her eyes, although the local conflicts are not over yet, everything in Juba has turned to better, as more stores are open and more people can be seen on the road. And when they enter the refugee camp, everyone would give a thumbs-up to the Chinese peacekeepers and say "China good", "good China".
