‘Don’t be sad, be strong’: Chinese man’s scribbled deathbed note deciphered by social media sleuth reveals his first expression of emotion to family
- ‘Traditional’ Chinese father shunned showing emotion throughout his life, making his dying words all the more poignant, say family
- Social media observers moved to tears as they praise person who worked out what his deathbed note said
A barely readable note which a Chinese man left on his deathbed has been deciphered by a kind-hearted social media sleuth who revealed it to be his first-ever emotional message to his family.
Millions have been moved to tears online after the man’s daughter posted the note on her Xiaohongshu social media account on April 4, asking people to help decipher the last words her father wrote to her and her mother.
She said her father was trying to speak to her mother before he died from cancer in a Shanghai hospital. Unable to understand him, her mother asked him to write a note instead.
The daughter was so busy dealing with paying the cost of her father’s treatment at the hospital that she was not by his side when he passed away.
With only the scribbled note as a final goodbye, the woman and her mother’s grief was compounded by the fact that they could not read it because the dying man was so weak he could not write properly.
In less than 24 hours, a kind person on Xiaohongshu came to the aid of the grieving family by deciphering the note and telling them that the scribble was nine Chinese characters which meant: “Don’t be sad. I want you to be strong.”
