On May 27, 2005, Zhang Qin’s life was changed forever. 

She was 15 years old, an ordinary village schoolgirl in Yunnan, China. That day, as she was leaving the gates of her secondary school, a man jumped out and threw a huge bowl of concentrated acid on her face. 

“It felt like my whole face was being boiled. I thought I was being poisoned, and the pain was simply indescribable – there are no words for it,” she recollected. 

The assailant had in fact been looking for her 17-year-old sister. Qin’s older sister had rejected his romantic advances and, fuelled by rage, he had come to seek revenge.

When he could not find her, the man decided to inflict his wrath upon Qin instead. 

“He had come with a knife as well. He would have killed me if my classmates had not come running,” said Qin.

Qin’s face, arms and chest were badly burnt, and the pain was excruciating. The village she lived in had no emergency medical services.

It took her eight agonising hours for her to get to the hospital in Kunming via bus.

“It seemed like there were no good people in the world”

It was a harrowing experience for the young teenager. “I had grown up so sheltered in the village that I had never stepped into the city before,” she said.

“Being in the hospital was completely foreign and overwhelming. I was in pain, I could not see, I could not stop crying.” 

Zhang Qin (right) with her sister in 2005 at a hospital in Kunming.

It took another three hours for her parents to arrive at the hospital. When they saw her, she was unrecognisable. Her entire family was shocked and devastated.

“We were poor farmers from the village. How could we afford the costs of being in Kunming? But I needed surgeries to save my life. So my parents borrowed large sums for my treatment.”

This marked the start of a long and painful time of Qin’s life.

“My heart grew hardened and bitter. I was filled with pain, and it seemed to me that there were no good people in this world.

“I felt like everyone was cruel and bad, and I did not want to talk to a single person,” she recounted.

Kind strangers

Then, the Lord’s kindness came to Qin through friendship with a taxi driver, Mr Hu.

One day, Qin stood in a queue with her sister, waiting for a taxi to get to the hospital. The first driver in the queue saw her disfigured face and declined to take them as passengers. 

“He found my face too horrifying,” she noted wryly. 

Mr Hu was the next driver in line. Upon learning why the girls had been rejected by the first taxi, he declined payment and became Qin’s first friend in Kunming. 

“He visited me daily,” said Qin. “He would bring us food and essential items. He checked in on us, sent me to my appointments and really took care of us during that difficult time.”

Mr Hu’s kindness was a balm to Qin’s hurting soul. But God was not done bringing people into her life to love and comfort her.

Months later, Mr Hu picked up a British lady, Jean Watson. She was working with Bless China International and had come to work with those affected by leprosy.

“What’s a white lady like yourself doing here in Kunming?” Mr Hu asked Jean.

“I am here to help those in need,” came her response.

Qin had hopes of regaining her eyesight and resuming her studies but doctors in Yunnan were unable to help her.

That day, Mr Hu brought Jean to meet Qin.

“I remember the first time I met her,” Qin said. “She held on to my hands and told me over and over, ‘I will help you, God will help you and God loves you’.”

“I was so bitter and angry then, I thought to myself, Why should I believe you?”

But Jean’s words were not empty. She began visiting Qin and bringing many others to visit her and keep her company.

One of those who befriended Qin was Dr Tan Lai Yong, a Singaporean doctor working in Yunnan at the time.

“Every day, a different caregiver would come and spend time with me. They would encourage me, bring me out for meals, and that helped my confidence greatly,” Qin remembered.

“I had been hiding from the world, wearing a big hat so that no one would see me. But with their support and consistent love, I started to open up.”

Lost dreams

When a team of Singaporean eye surgeons visited Kunming, Dr Tan brought them to see Qin, hoping for some input on whether anything could be done for her damaged vision.

The outcome was difficult to accept: Her condition was complicated, and any remediating surgeries would be very costly. The facilities for the surgeries were also not available in Yunnan and any further surgery would need to be done in Singapore.

“I was crushed,” Qin admitted. “My dream was to be able to see again, and to go back to school. It was hard to hear that it would not be possible.”

Photographer Andrew Chew visited Yunnan in 2005 and took these photos of Qin. They would go on to form a friendship.

At the same time, a Singaporean photographer named Andrew Chew visited Yunnan, and Dr Tan brought him to meet with Qin as well. 

“He was with me for four hours to take my photos. We sat in complete silence. Part of the reason for that was because he could not speak much Mandarin.

“But the other reason for our silence was that I was feeling overwhelmingly hopeless and small, and I did not want to speak to anyone.

“At the end of four hours, he only said one thing to me: ‘I hope to see you in Singapore one day.'”

The God Who provides

Then, the Lord provided unexpectedly.

A foundation in Singapore had a significant sum of money to be used for a pediatric patient’s treatment. The only conditions were that the patient had to be a child or youth, and the treatment was to be in Singapore.

Qin’s needs fit those requirements perfectly. 

“I couldn’t believe it. I was going to Singapore and for the first time in a while, I felt hope,” said Qin.

When she arrived in Singapore, the first person to receive her at the airport was Andrew.

The road ahead was not easy for Qin. Her surgeries were complicated and long, and there was yet much pain and discomfort to be endured. Adjusting to the hot, humid climate of Singapore was also a challenge and Qin remembers vomiting frequently during her first trip here due to her struggles with the weather.

Yet, when she recounted that first visit to Singapore, what she remembered was the kindness, patience and abundant love poured out upon her by the Singaporeans who housed and cared for her.

“I could not understand it. They were so patient and loving through everything. When we went out, they would hold my hand to guide me,” she described.

“I was so used to people shunning and avoiding me because of how I looked, yet these Singaporean Christians would hold my hand and walk beside me. Despite having no relations to me, they loved me, and I thought to myself, How can it be?

“The warmth of their love melted my hardened, ice-cold heart.”

Qin’s hosts brought her to church and she heard once again about a God who loves her. 

“It was then that I finally understood that these people could love me because they knew God’s love. They could show me compassion because they received it from God. And through their love, I felt God’s love for me as well,” she said.

“That was when I really came to believe that there is a God, and He loves and cares for me.”

A photograph of a confident Qin, taken by Andrew Chew in 2018.

There have been many more surgeries in Singapore since her initial trip here. In each successive trip here for procedures or follow-up appointments, Qin has continued to experience the love of God through countless Singaporeans who have lived out His love, generosity and hospitality. 

“Each time I come, I am so overwhelmed by love and care shown to me by my Singaporean hosts, doctors, friends. Each time also, God provides for all of my needs and I never lack. I have been so very blessed,” said Qin.

“I am sure of His great love for me”

On July 16, 2025, Qin shared her testimony and thanksgiving before a crowd of hundreds at the Singapore Medical Missions Foundation Dinner.

Looking at her in a beautiful pink dress with her head held high, one could scarcely imagine that the young Qin had spent so much time hiding from the world in abject pain and despair.

Present at the dinner were also some of the many individuals who have been a part of her healing and recovery journey. 

Today, Qin has recovered some vision in her eyes and leads an independent life in Kunming, China. She works as a masseuse, and is able to care for and provide for herself.

That is not to say that life is a bed of roses – there are still everyday challenges to face. Qin shared that she does grapple with loneliness at times and navigating social systems in China for disability support can be an administrative pain.

Qin, with Dr Tan Lai Yong, at the Singapore Medical Missions Foundation Dinner on July 16. Photo by Triston Pang.

Yet, through the difficulties, the assurance of God’s love is her strength and hope.

“I always think to myself, there is no lack of people in need in China. There are so many who are in challenging situations and who need help. Who am I, that God would care for me and send me help? Yet He did, and through this I am sure of His great love for me.”

In difficult times, the words of the Psalmist bring Qin comfort and reminders of God’s steadfast faithfulness: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1)

RELATED STORIES:

Pregnant and abandoned by her husband, she never dreamt they would become best friends decades later

His 15-year-old sister died after collapsing in school; but in his grief, he found unexpected comfort

“Why not me instead of her?” Rev Dr Peter Tan-Chi and Deonna’s heartbreak over their daughter’s attack

Breaking the silence: A foreign domestic worker and rape survivor’s story of healing