A digital inheritance: Chinese gamer writes digital assets into his will
CGTN

Digital wallets, gaming accounts and social media images are among the items to be cared for in Chinese esports player Ruofeng's will released earlier this year. 

China's ubiquitous use of digital wallets has thrust the digital afterlife into question – what happens to your social media accounts when you die? 

According to data released by China Will Registration Center – a social welfare organization with over 150,000 wills reserved – by the end of this September, it has received the 178 wills from people born after 1990.

Chinese born after the 1990 have taken digital assets as an important part of their assets and are much more concerned about what happens to these items after death than the older generation, according to a recent CCTV report. 

These accounts need to be managed especially when have real monetary value. Digital assets go beyond your social media accounts, and include your cloud storage for family photos, music collections and so on. If you have ever used a website for health data services, you could also preserve its account as part of your digital assets.

Digital assets can be inherited, which has been acknowledged in the U.S. Back in April 2012, the U.S. government added "a social media will" to the list of official personal finance recommendations. The will writer could appoint an online executor and give all passwords and a clear statement to the executor about how he/she would like the others to operate the accounts after death.

In China, if your family were to inherit the deceased's WeChat and AliPay accounts, the family members can only be authorized to operate the account after providing certain authorization statements – issues that came up in several street interviews conducted by CCTV.