He keeps an eye on the dead user's account. If there are tributes left by relatives or friends, and the account has stopped updating for more than two weeks, he will announce the death of the account owner.

He carefully goes through posts left by the account user and makes a sketch of his or her life in words.

The obituaries have consisted of a firefighter who lost his life during a rescue mission, a millionaire who drowned and white-collar workers who have died working too hard.

For his 80,000-plus followers, sharing sorrow and pity, lighting candles are a ritual, while also learning that "life is precious."

"Sigh with life! It is best for us to cherish the moment!" said "anye0912."

"At the beginning, I just wanted to do something different," said Xiaolin, whose Weibo name became the hottest search result on a day last month.

He become emotionally attached last February, when he saw posts released by a young girl with cancer and a man with acute pneumonia, before their deaths.

"The girl wrote that she had persuaded her parents to donate her heart after her death, a way she said will continue her dreams," said Xiaolin.