AN 84-year-old man from the small city of Zigong in Sichuan Province has become an unlikely social media sensation after his granddaughter quit her job and set out to help him realize some of his wishes on his bucket list, attracting hundreds of millions of views online. The short videos posted to Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok —show 25-year-old Wan Minghui, who goes by the name Little Wan on social media, taking her grandfather to visit Beijing in September, a long-cherished wish of the old man and his wife before she passed away six years ago. The elderly man was curious about many things, from the number of tunnels to how spacious the airport was. He can be seen in the videos leaving their hotel in Beijing at 2 a.m. to attend the national flag-raising ceremony and waiting patiently in a long line. Clutching a photo of his wife, Wan’s grandfather sang the national anthem and wiped away tears. At some bucket list destinations in Beijing, he was photographed with his wife’s picture, which he brought along to make it feel as though she were traveling with him. The videos under the hashtags “Fulfilling Grandpa’s 100 Wishes” and “Taking Grandpa on Tours” have been viewed more than 100 million times, receiving more than 5 million likes and a long list of comments, including praise for Little Wan, best wishes for her grandfather and discussions about the meaning of life. Wan quit her consulting job in May to accompany her grandfather after she noticed his loneliness during an unannounced visit to him one day in May, when saw him sleeping alone on the sofa. To make a living, she got three part-time jobs, including writing advertising online. Reading letters her grandfather had written to his wife, Wan learned that the couple had many regrets, including some plans they had never carried out. So she began to help him fulfill them — for example, taking him on his first picnic, his first visit to a dinosaur museum, to his first film, first Fathers’ Day celebration and first karaoke experience. Wan has planned more trips with her grandpa for the future.(China Daily) | 