{"id":417526,"date":"2026-01-18T14:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417526\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T14:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:48:07","slug":"a-viral-question-for-young-chinese-people-living-alone-are-you-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417526\/","title":{"rendered":"A viral question for young Chinese people living alone: ‘Are you dead?’"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIJING \u2014 One of the most popular new apps in China<\/a> poses an awkward question: \u201cAre you dead?\u201d<\/p>\n

An app by that name has gone viral as a digital \u201ccheck-in\u201d aimed mainly at the growing number of young people living alone in China\u2019s sprawling cities. The idea is to designate an emergency contact person, who will be alerted if a user goes a few days without confirming their well-being on the app.<\/p>\n

The app, which was free when it launched last May but now costs 8 yuan ($1.14), was the most downloaded paid app in Apple\u2019s App Store for China in recent days – though after its viral popularity, it appears to have since disappeared from the Chinese App Store under unclear circumstances.<\/p>\n

The app describes itself as a personal safety assistant, \u201cwhether you are a professional living solo, a student studying far from home, or anyone choosing an independent lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ian Guo, one of the founders, told NBC News he was surprised by the success of the app, which cost less than $150 to make and is now valued at around $15 million.<\/p>\n

He said he and his two co-founders, who like him are members of China\u2019s \u201cpost-95 generation,\u201d were inspired by social media commenters who said this was something they needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw this opportunity and asked ourselves if we could quickly launch a product,\u201d Guo said. But they also believed the app \u201ccould truly provide people with more security and protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally lived alone in Shenzhen for a long time, so I understand the various problems one faces when living solo,\u201d he said, adding that the sense of loneliness and insecurity \u201cis constant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the concept may sound morbid, the app\u2019s popularity is a reflection of demographic changes in China, where urbanization, falling marriage rates and long work hours have left many feeling isolated.<\/p>\n

By 2030, China \u2014 a nation of 1.4 billion people \u2014 could have 200 million one-person households, according to the state-backed Global Times<\/a> newspaper, which cited real estate research institutions.<\/p>\n

The app\u2019s name in Mandarin, \u201cSi Le Ma,\u201d appeared to be a play on the name of one of China\u2019s most popular food delivery apps, \u201cE Le Ma,\u201d which means \u201cAre You Hungry?\u201d Some found its emphasis on death too dark, and the app has now been renamed Demumu, which Guo said was \u201ccuter.\u201d<\/p>\n

“\u2018Are You Dead?\u2019 sounds more like a joke,” says Lisa Li, a 23 year old English teacher, “But Are You Alive? sounds like you\u2019re rising from the dead and that would be even weirder.”<\/p>\n

Li, 23, said she found the app \u201ca bit absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be afraid that if I were forgetful and missed a check-in, people would actually think I\u2019m dead,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said she thought most people were downloading the app out of curiosity. \u201cSome people really do worry that if they die, no one will find them,\u201d she added, pointing to a recent string of highly publicized cases of young Chinese professionals, particularly at tech companies, dying suddenly after long periods of intense work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cui Xiyue, an exhibition planner in Beijing, said she downloaded the app when she was \u201cgoing through a period of depression and mental health issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust getting through a single day back then wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d said Cui, 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first got it, I checked in every day, but I didn\u2019t stick with it for very long,\u201d she said. \u201cI probably don\u2019t need it anymore because I\u2019ve stopped thinking about those dark things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loneliness has long been a concern for older people in China, where more than one-fifth of the population is over 60. When younger family members migrate from rural areas to cities, they are often left behind.<\/p>\n

But social isolation is also a problem for young Chinese, who are increasingly reluctant to get married and have children amid the rising cost of living and competition for jobs.<\/p>\n

Yuying Tong, a sociology professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said she thought the app would be helpful for young people living alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, to some extent they are joking, it\u2019s more sarcastic,\u201d said Tong, co-director of the university\u2019s Centre for Chinese Family Studies. On the other hand, she said, the app could lead people to reflect on their single life.<\/p>\n

Some commenters on Chinese social media were skeptical of the app\u2019s usefulness.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo people really use apps like this? If I get busy and forget to check in, wouldn\u2019t I end up \u2018dying\u2019 every other day?\u201d read one comment on Weibo.<\/p>\n

Others rejected the idea of having yet another place to report to.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to clock in for school, clock in for work, and now you have to clock in just to prove you aren\u2019t dead,\u201d one commenter said. \u201cChinese people \u2014 spending a lifetime \u2018clocking in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Tong said loneliness was less of a problem for young people than for older people because they are \u201cmore adaptive\u201d when it comes to using the internet to connect with the outside world.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the activities can be transferred offline,\u201d she said, pointing to the thousands of people who showed up in a village outside the Chinese city of Chongqing to help a young woman and her father slaughter pigs for a traditional banquet after she posted a callout last week on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people can find a way to overcome their own loneliness,\u201d Tong said, \u201cif they\u2019re really willing to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janis Mackey Frayer and Dawn Liu reported from Beijing, and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIJING \u2014 One of the most popular new apps in China poses an awkward question: \u201cAre you dead?\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[49,48,190,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-417526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}