Inspirational domestic inscriptions of deceased man in China trend online, highlight plight of country’s elderly

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.”