Elderly Chinese man had forgotten where he lived and even his name... but still he carried the memory of his late wife
Widower was found lost and confused, carrying nothing but a 40-year-old love letter and a memento of his love’s death
Chinese social media users were driven to tears after a 40-year-old love letter carried by an old man who had lost his way went viral on Weibo.
The pensioner was found wandering around the northeastern city of Dalian in Liaoning province by police on Sunday, carrying nothing but his letter and the 17-year-old cremation certificate of his beloved, according to the Peninsula Morning Post.
He could not remember the location of his home or even his own name, only that he had studied at Dalian University of Technology.
Photos showing police accompanying the old man, and the two-page handwritten letter, quickly went viral after being posted by a popular local blogger with over 230,000 followers.
Two hours after the photos were published, the old man was identified by a user named “Lao Ma” as Zhang Liansheng, a 90-year-old retired government cadre from Dalian University of Technology.
The man added that he and Zhang had been part of the same team in Changling commune, in the city of Zhuanghe.