BEIJING, Nov 1 — A young orphan from southwest China who feared his wedding would be sparsely attended after a lifetime marked by loss received an overwhelming response after inviting strangers online to celebrate with him.

Xu Chenghong, a 24-year-old man from Zhaotong in Yunnan province, turned to social media ahead of his wedding after worrying that too few relatives would be present on his big day. 

According to reports, Xu lost his father at the age of three. His mother remarried two years later, leaving him and his older brother to be raised by their grandmother, who also died when he was still a child. 

Having grown up with little family support, Xu worked various jobs and reportedly saved more than 160,000 yuan (RM94,000) to marry his girlfriend, Luo Chui. As the wedding approached, however, he realised there would not be enough relatives and friends to fill even a few banquet tables. 

In a video posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, Xu invited members of the public to attend the wedding, saying he simply wanted people to share the occasion with him. 

The appeal quickly went viral.

What began as an open invitation to a handful of strangers soon snowballed into a nationwide wave of goodwill, with thousands of people expressing interest in attending and many travelling to Xu’s village to take part in the celebrations. 

Guests arrived bearing gifts ranging from household appliances and food supplies to livestock and wedding necessities. Volunteer chefs offered to prepare banquet dishes, while others helped decorate the venue and organise wedding logistics. A convoy of wedding cars was also arranged by supporters, with one well-wisher reportedly providing a luxury Maybach vehicle for the newlyweds. 

The turnout grew so large that organisers were forced to move the event from its original venue to a larger public space, with local authorities assisting in crowd management, traffic control and food-safety arrangements. 

Videos of the celebration circulated widely on Chinese social media, where many users described the wedding as a powerful reminder of human kindness.

“For Xiao Xiao Xu, the response meant that his wedding would not be defined by the family members he had lost or the empty tables he had feared,” one report noted. 

The story has resonated across China and beyond, transforming what could have been a lonely family occasion into a mass celebration of community, compassion and the kindness of strangers.