Chen Xiaoli [hz.wenming.cn]

A woman from the city of Huizhou in south China's Guangdong Province became a real life superherowhen she saved a baby girl stuck on a five-storey-high window rail.

On October 10, Chen Xiaoli climbed the building using her bare hands. She held the 3-year-old until firefighters arrived. The girl had been locked inside home by her parents and had climbed out of the window.

The night of the incidence, Chen had been sitting around chatting with neighbors as usual in a grocery store on the ground floor of her apartment when a fellow resident rushed in asking for help to save a girl hanging in the air.

Chen and others soon reached the scene, which drew a big crowd. Without hesitating, she grasped the window fence of the first floor and began to climb.

"When she reached the third floor, she said, 'Baby, don't cry, don't fear, Auntie is coming to hug you,' " said a neighbor who witnessed the whole process.

When getting to the fourth floor, she had to cross a distance equal to the width of a widow to reach the girl, a tough task for a small figure less than 1.6 meters tall.

On her third attempt, Chen finally grasped the fence snagging the girl. She tried to lift the child up and put her in the window but failed.

Later, a neighbor threw a rope down from the 9th floor, telling her to tie herself and the girl to the fence in case they fell down. To protect the girl, she kept holding her up until rescuers came.

"When firefighters got her out, I felt myself totally worn out. Later, rescuers dragged me up, too" she recalled.

To show gratitude, the girl's parents insisted on giving Chen 2,000 yuan (U.S.$ 300), but she declined.

She said: "What I did was purely by instinct. At that time, I kept telling myself not to lose my grip, don't let her get hurt."

After her heroic act, Chen became the talk of the city, making it onto the front pages of local newspapers.

She said she would not feel well in her conscience if she stood by when others were in danger.

A picture shows Chen Xiaoli grasps the fence snagging the baby girl. [hz.wenming.cn]

Chen Xiaoli points at the window fence. [Dongjiang Time]

Local volunteers visit Chen Xiaoli's home. [Huizhou Daily]

(Source: hz.wenming.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China)

Editor: Joyce Dong