Dutch man waits 10 days in Chinese airport for online GF

 A lovesick Dutch, who spent 10 days in a Chinese airport in the hope of meeting his online girlfriend, has been hospitalised for exhaustion.

Alexander Pieter Cirk, 41, recently flew from Holland to Hunan province in central China in the hope of meeting his online girlfriend, a Chinese woman known only as Zhang.

But he ended up spending 10 days waiting at Changsha airport, after she failed to show up.
Cirk told Chinese media that he met Zhang, 26, in an app two months ago and romance blossomed.

He decided to fly to visit her, but when he got to Hunan found no-one had come to meet him at the airport.

He refused to leave the airport for the next 10 days, and was eventually taken to hospital suffering physical exhaustion, the BBC quoted reports by Hunan TV.

Zhang contacted the channel a day after the report was aired to give her side, saying that she had thought it had all been a joke.

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

"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 also added that by the time Cirk arrived at the airport, she was away having plastic surgery in another province and had turned off her phone.

On Chinese social media, the majority of users were keen to point out the apparent absurdity of the Dutch man's actions.

The hashtag "Foreign man went to Changsha to meet his online girlfriend" has been trending on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo.

"He must be stupid, why would anyone do this?" asked one user.
"Doesn't he know that everything in China is fake?" commented another.
Others, however, had some sympathy.

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

"What does this say about Chinese integrity?", asked another.Cirk was scheduled to fly home earlier this week.

Zhang reportedly said she was still keen to meet Cirk after her recovery, indicating that she was still interested in maintaining their online relationship.