Center opens 'will' preservation service on social media

A registration center has launched a "will" preservation service on WeChat, China's social media platform.

By 2023, the service had received about 97,000 messages, including words, pictures and videos, from users, according to a report released by the China Will Registration Center on Thursday.

The majority of the users were young people, with the largest number of people aged between 20 and 29, accounting for 35 percent. It was followed by people under 20, accounting for 26.06 percent.

The messages preserved on WeChat do not constitute a will in the legal sense. The launch of the service is to publicize the concept of making wills to more people, said Chen Kai, the center's founder.

By 2023, a total of 311,868 wills had been registered at the center and 8,721 wills had come into effect.

A rising number of young Chinese people have adopted the practice of drawing up wills, according to the report.

With the public's rising awareness of making out a will, the average age of testators has dropped by about 10 years from 2018 to 2023, said the report.

People aged between 60 and 70 account for the majority of the wills, but the number of young and middle-aged people arranging a will has been gradually increasing since 2017, it added.

As of 2023, a total of 524 people born in the 2000s and 2,461 born in the 1990s had registered their wills with the center, said Chen Kai.

More and more wills made by young and middle-aged people involve virtual property. According to the report, by the end of last year, the center had received 488 wills involving virtual property such as virtual currency, social media accounts and online game accounts.