For one Dutch man, what began as a grand romantic gesture ended in a futile 3,000-mile voyage, a 10-day stay in an airport terminal, and a brief trip to the hospital.

Alexander Kirk, 41, first met Ms. Zhang, 26, who is only identified by her last name in Chinese state media and TV station reports, in a messaging app.

Over the two months that followed, ‘‘We had advanced our romantic relationship, but later he seemed a little callous toward me,’’ Zhang told a local TV station, according the BBC.

So imagine her surprise when he sent her a photograph of airplane tickets that would take him from his home in the Netherlands to hers, in the Hunan province of China. ‘‘I thought it was a joke,’’ Zhang told the TV station.

Kirk arrived in the Changsha Huanghua International Airport. Zhang did not.

Kirk spent 10 days in the airport waiting for Zhang to meet him, to no avail. And when he finally did leave, it was not by choice; he was taken to a local hospital to be treated for exhaustion.

Zhang had reportedly traveled to a neighboring province of China for plastic surgery on parts of her face, and she said her phone was turned off.

Zhang said she still intends to meet Kirk eventually.

Washington Post