Chinese tradition generally considers it bad luck to speak of death, but the concept has gradually changed as more and more people, especially younger generations, are starting to register their wills.

The China Will Registration Center issued a 2019 white paper on Saturday, the first time it released big data on young people's wills. As of the end of 2019, a total of 2,333 young people under the age of 60 have registered their wills. The number of young people making wills continues to increase, nearly tripling in three years for generations born post 1990s.

The lower the age, the more obvious the growth trend

From 2017 to 2019, the growth trend of young and middle-aged people registering their wills is consistent. Analyzing from the absolute number of young and middle-aged testators, the lower the age, the more obvious the growth trend. Taking the post-90s generation as an example, the number of testament wills was 61 in 2017 and 169 in 2019, which has nearly tripled.

Among the total of 2,333 testators under the age of 60, the male to female ratio was about 4:6, in which the number of women was higher than that of men. From the perspective of regional distribution, young and middle-aged testators are mainly distributed in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

From the statistics of the testator's education level, education is concentrated in the "high school" and "college" stages. At the same time, the proportion of primary and middle school education has decreased, while the proportion of testament educators with college education or above has increased in the past three years.

Post-90s generation adds virtual property such as game account into their wills

In the second half of 2019, the topic of "post-90s" testament aroused public concern. In China, the minimum age that allows will registration is 18. The white paper shows that in 2017, 55 people of post-90s generation registered and kept wills in the China Will Registration Center. In 2018, the number increased to 178 people. While the total number of post 90s generation is up to 344 people as of end of 2019.

Different from testators of other age groups, the inclusion and arrangement of virtual property has become a prominent feature in post-90s generation wills. These virtual properties include accounts on Alipay, WeChat, QQ, as well as the game accounts, which make their will lists more special. 

What attracts people's attention is that 80 percent of the post-90s generations who have made a will already own real estate. According to Tang Tingting, the director of Management Service Department of China Will Registration Center, among post-90s real estate owners, it is common for parents to buy a house in the name of their children. Even some parents register their own stock equity under their children's name. "This is also an important reason for making a will to prevent accidental loss of property," Tang said.

WeChat Will launched during epidemic

Love Message is a special service first promoted by China Will Registration Center in 2018. People write their wishes and entrustments on the card to their future generations. In the past two years, the center has received more than 10,000 Love Message cards, mainly about wishes and blessings for their family in the future.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak in the beginning of this year, many people have had the idea of leaving messages to their relatives and friends. The China Will Registration Center immediately launched a WeChat Will service to meet people's demands of delivering the Love Message. People can create their online will through their WeChat App.

Although there is no such term as 'online will' under the law, Chen Kai, the director of Manage Committee of China Will Registration Center explained that the WeChat Will serves in an emotional way, which is mainly for leaving a message to others. For those related to property, he suggested to make the will by following the official process and law.