Chinese female peacekeeper wins UN award in S. Sudan

Zhang Qin is awarded the medal of peace in South Sudan on Oct 4, 2017.[Photo/Western China City Daily]

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".