A pig that became an unlikely national icon in China after surviving for 36 days under rubble from a 2008 earthquake has died at the age of 14, sparking an outpouring of emotion yesterday.
Zhu Jianqiang (豬堅強, Strong Pig) shot to fame after being discovered alive after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.
The earthquake left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing, and the pig’s story, subsisting on a bag of charcoal and rainwater, was hailed as an inspiring symbol of the will to survive.
Photo: AFP
Witnesses said that the young Zhu Jianqiang had lost so much weight by the time it was pulled from the rubble that it looked more like a goat.
A local museum near the city of Chengdu had purchased the pig for 3,008 yuan (US$468 at the current exchange rate) and kept it as a tourist attraction while it lived out its days.
It succumbed to “old age and exhaustion” on Wednesday night, the museum wrote on social media.
In human terms, it was 100 years old, the Global Times said, citing its breeder.
The celebrity porker was named China’s animal of the year in 2008 because it “vividly illustrated the spirit of never giving up.”
The hashtag “Strong Pig died” had drawn nearly 300 million views by noon yesterday and was rising fast.
People on social media hailed it as “the most famous pig in history.”
“It is indeed a strong animal, not just for surviving the earthquake, but also for the 13 years of life afterward,” one post said.
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