Amid times of uncertainty, app preserves messages of hope and happiness

“How deeply I feel that life is frail, but we have a strong, protective motherland.”

“My child, you are a gift to dad. I’m proud of you and wish you a happy life filled with gratitude. ”

“Daughter, mom hopes you will grow up as a person of integrity and benevolence, and be of value to society.”

“Mom and dad, I am in your debt. I owe you too much. Words cannot express my gratitude to you. Love you forever!”

These are but a few examples of well-wishes shared among family members over the past one month or so, as people collaborated to fight the novel coronavirus, giving each other hope and love. These well-wishes are recorded on a special WeChat mini program designed and developed by the China Will Registration Center. 

Mind you, it is not for registering a “will” in the usual sense of the word, but for preserving “messages of happiness” to loved ones. Over the past month of operation, the mini program has received about 1,000 such messages, according to local media, all quoting sources from the center.

The purpose is to provide an online platform for people to preserve their “messages of happiness,” to be delivered to target readers at a designated time. The messages are more like surprise gifts –  emotional ones – prepared in advance for the family members of the authors.

Chen Kai, a manager at the China Will Registration Center, told Beijing Daily in a recent interview that most such messages are wishes from parents to children.

These messages often reveal the deepest thoughts one has about life and family. They typically show Chinese people’s profound appreciation of communal spirit as well as family values.

In Confucian tradition, communal care does not stop with individual families; it extends to the whole society, and the world at large. True, one first learns to cultivate a good character and to care for family members, but ultimately, in giving hope and help, one will be able to answer the call of all others in need.

If there’s a special message from these “messages of happiness,” it’s one about gratitude and care for others. It’s one that people across the world can share in mankind's joint efforts to curb the novel coronavirus.