A passer-by has saved the life of a toddler in China, catching her as she fell from a 10-storey window.

The 2 year-old Chinese girl survived the fall after a 31-year-old passer-by saw the girl topple and raced to catch her. However she was unable to hold onto the girl due to the force of the impact.

"The girl's brain, lungs, gastrointestinal tract are all injured because of the height she fell from. She also has difficulties in urination," a doctor with Zhejiang Children's Hospital posted on its micro blog on Sunday.

Wu Juping, 31 — herself the mother of a seven-month-old baby – suffered a fractured left arm and is expected to take 6 months to recover. She is being hailed as a hero on Chinese television.

“I did it out of a mother’s instinct,” Wu told local media. “I know how difficult it is to deliver and bring up a child. I wouldn’t accept it if the child died in front of me.”

The girl, named Zhang Fangyu but known by the nickname Niu Niu, was in the care of her grandmother in the apartment outside the city of Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, on Saturday afternoon.

She had been left at home alone, while her grandmother went to check on some washing, when the accident took place, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Seeing the child dangling from the window and about to fall, Wu kicked off her high-heeled shoes and ran towards her with her arms outstretched, Xinhua said.