Weibo page helps viewers explore meaning of life and death

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Social media is more than just a place for people to communicate, it's also a place to chronicle their lives. For some netizens, Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform in China, is a place to explore the meaning of life and the respect of death.

A page called @Shizherusifu Dead, which has 500,000 followers, is operated by a young man surnamed Lin and his team, who write biographic posts of the recently deceased and obituaries contributed by their loved ones.

"All the deceased are treated the same here. Whether they are notable, newsworthy, celebrities or infamous, their life stories will be compiled in a post for people to mourn," Lin and his team said on the homepage.

For netizens, the page is a place to remind themselves about the beauty and respect of life.

Hao Yuelian, who once was a comfort woman during World War II, died at age 91 in September 2018. On the same day, Lin posted a short obituary for her.

A screenshot of the obituary of Hao Yuelian /Screenshot from Weibo

"If the afterlife exists, I hope you could be a princess and beloved by all the people," @Chin_Meishiji commented underneath the obituary.

"Her unfortunate life ends," @Hangzhouxiaoeba said.

Wang Mengshu, one of China's leading construction engineers, died of illness at the age of 80 on September 21, 2018.

"Another star is rising in the sky," a follower named @Guomie commented on Lin's obituary.

A screenshot of the obituary of Wang Mengshu /Screenshot from Weibo

"Without any marketing strategy, or buying traffic or followers, what kind of social media account could I make," Lin said, who was once a programmer. He decided to open the account in July 2011 to write short but sincere posts about the deceased.

After a year and a half of operation, Lin attracted around 60,000 followers.

Lin then made his Weibo account more product focused. To reach his loyal target audience more accurately and win more engagement, he dedicated most of his time to finding touching words and pictures.

Sometimes, just reading the comments under his posts is a touching experience.

"Reading the comments is like standing at a crossroad and having someone come up to you and tell you their whole life story," he said, "and then they jump into the abyss behind you, and there's nothing you can do."

As one of Lin's volunteers said, the respect of death makes us realize the meaning of life.