Inspirational domestic inscriptions of deceased man in China trend online, highlight plight of country’s elderly
- Man makes neatly written inscriptions on walls and furniture around home
- From the mundane to the cosmic, old man’s musings warm hearts online
An array of poignant inscriptions revealing the thoughts and feelings of a recently deceased 78-year-old man which were written on walls and furniture around his home have turned the spotlight on the plight of China’s rapidly ageing population.
The “house of thoughts” was captured at the man’s funeral, and posted on by a photographer on a Xiaohongshu account @Caishanhai on April 7.
The discovery has moved many people on mainland social media.
All around his rural home in central China’s Shanxi province, Zhang Fuqing wrote everything that occurred to him, from daily routines to his family history and his curiosity about the universe.
Among them, on a brick wall, was this: “Insecticide should be sprayed on the apricot trees every year when the flowers fall. The larger the fruit the sweeter it is.”
In another, Zhang reflected on a piece of news he had heard in 2023: “Kashgar in Xinjiang will become one of the world’s biggest logistic centres by 2026. Will Zhang Fuqing, 77, have the chance to see it?”
“August 7, 2023, 7 o’clock. Fuqing, blood sugar 9.0, weight 80kg. Zhongxiu, blood sugar 13.8,” wrote in another about himself and his wife.
Another message read: “Every March and July, find young people in the village to help Fuqing and Zhongxiu scan their faces with mobile phones, to claim our pensions.”
The old man’s musings did not stop at the mundane, they even ventured into the cosmos.
“How big is the universe? The sun’s surface temperature is 6,000 degrees Celsius, its centre is 15,000,000 degrees Celsius. It takes 1.3 million Earths to fill the sun’s volume, and the mass of the sun is 330,000 times that of Earth. It takes 48 moons to fill Earth’s volume. There are 200 billion stars in the galaxy.”
Zhang’s neatly written notes topped Xiaohongshu’s trending list on April 7, and attracted many to comment about the beauty of life, and the unseen issues that elderly people face.
“I’m so moved. These bricks are the long-lasting legacy of a man who has lived vividly in this world,” said one online observer.
“Through his notes I see the life of the older generations. For all their life they worked hard in a small courtyard, day and night, spring to autumn. They only have themselves to talk to, and never expected anyone else to answer their questions,” said another.
“I cried when I saw Fuqing’s writing about the face scanning. I saw my parents in his words,” said a third.
China has one of the world’s most rapidly ageing populations.
The country was home to 280 million people aged above 60 by the end of 2022, 19.8 per cent of its total population and the nation faces a staggering challenge to meet their needs.
