S'pore PR backpacks to over 70 countries to collect 'death wishes' from people around the world

What do you wish for before you die?

A Singapore resident has traversed the globe to collect what he calls "death wishes" from the people he met around the world.

Yan Hai Xiang then compiled these people's photos and their "death wishes" for his 1,001 Nights project and exhibited them online.

His story is "unique and inspiring", said a Stomper.

"Hai Xiang has backpacked alone across all five continents since 2013. In each country he visits, he talks to the locals and collects their wishes before their death."

Born in China, Hai Xiang moved to Canada with his family before coming to Singapore to study at the Singapore Management University. He now works in quantitative finance and risk management.

Hai Xiang said: "Today, mankind once again stands at the crossroads of a new wave of technological revolution. Nothing I can do but record the ups and downs that humans feel with their own flesh rather than a cold machine or some other substitute; to record the unsettling, the fear or the peacefulness before their last day comes. These will all become the IP and run script in the era of the Metaverse.

"Therefore, I created the 1,001 Nights project in hopes of spending 1,001 nights of my life recording word for word the death wishes of 1,001 human beings on this planet."

It has not been easy.

"Building the 1,001 Nights project is no small effort. I spent 10 years, since 2013 when I first set foot beyond the border, solo backpacking to over 70 countries and all five continents on this planet," said Hai Xiang.

"I have slept in a herdsmen’s tent and a sleeping bag in the desert, ate at local food stalls and wore the clothes the locals did. All this enabled me to build trust with total strangers fast and obtain all the priceless images and stories that you see in the exhibition.

"Now that I have come back to Singapore and started to sort all these stories on the road, I can’t help but wonder how stubborn and yet vulnerable lives are, which is also the reason that I keep toiling on this road till today."