‘Digital resurrection’: devoted father in China aims to make dead daughter ‘happy in heaven’ with online videos of her life

A devoted father in China has been using mainland social media to keep alive memories of his daughter who died in an accident last year.

The man, surnamed Zhao, 55, from the southeastern province of Guangdong, has posted footage of his daughter Yuting’s 27 years of life on his Douyin account since the date of her birthday in July.

He says his aim is to “digitally resurrect” her life.

The father began keeping records when his daughter was a little girl. To document the happy times his daughter had, he bought a costly digital video recorder in 2002 and has since filmed more than a dozen hours of footage.

The videos cover everything from important events like birthday dinners and graduation ceremonies to everyday happenings like horseplay with her parents and laughing while watching a television show.

The doting dad began keeping photos and videos of his daughter when she was very young. Photo: Douyin

They are uploaded by Zhao as if his daughter is still alive.

While smartphones have made it easy to record and share videos, it was once a luxury for many Chinese households to keep such a record of daily life.

Zhao said he was inspired by the Pixar movie Coco, and he believed the only thing that makes a person disappear is forgetting, not death.

He added that he had posted several videos of Yuting before she died, and she had been happy to see people liked her.

He believed posting more videos of his daughter would “make her happy in heaven”.

Zhao’s account has 100,000 followers, some of whom say they consider Yuting their “digital friend”.

Others who knew the girl in real life stayed follow the account to remember her. Some even sent their own photos and videos of Yuting to let Zhao see his daughter’s life from different perspectives.

“As a girl who wasn’t loved by her parents, I feel comforted and loved while watching these videos,” said one online observer.

The grieving father says he aims to “digitally resurrect” his late daughter’s life. Photo: Douyin

“Her life may not have been long, but it was rich and splendid with a lot of love from her parents,” said another.

“When you talk about her, see her in the videos, and remember her, she is right here by your side,” added a third.