Xu Chenghong had saved about 167,500 yuan for his wedding in Yiliang County, Yunnan. When he wrote the guest list he mostly had his older brother. He posted a raw video online asking strangers to help fill the tables.

His father died when he was three. His mother remarried. His grandmother later passed too. Friends and relatives were scarce and he worried the banquet for bride Luo Chui would feel empty on Oct. 31.

The internet answered louder than he imagined. Travelers poured into Luowang township from Sichuan, Chongqing, Hong Kong and farther. Local hotels sold out. Restaurants stayed packed. Village organizers moved the feast to a bigger square.

Tables full of strangers

By wedding day media reports put the crowd above 10,000 with some accounts describing even larger waves of visitors around the village. Guests brought apples home appliances live ducks hens pigs and even the key to a used car. Dozens of freelance chefs helped feed the throng.

Xu said he had expected maybe a couple dozen polite locals. Instead he got a temporary festival. One farmer gifted a hundred hens and said they were family. Another drove more than 2,000 kilometers just to congratulate him in person.

They cleaned up too

When the plates were cleared the visitors did not leave a mess behind. Crowds organized on the spot and scrubbed the plaza until it looked untouched. Clips of the cleanup traveled as far as the invitation.

Loneliness stories travel for a reason. This one ends with a mountain town briefly becoming a wedding city because strangers decided an orphaned groom should not stand alone. Xu got the tables he asked for and a lot more faith in people than he booked for.