This is Song Bo chilling with a sex doll in public. He was diagnosed with a serious illness two years ago that gave him constant headaches and made him depressed.

While he was browsing the internet one day, Song came across a listing on e-commerce website Taobao for a child-sized love doll.

He bought the 4’10” doll and fell in love with it the moment it arrived.

He started treating the doll like his daughter, taking it along wherever he went, and even gave it a name – Xiao Die (“little butterfly”)

Song Bo currently lives with his mother, who apparently had no objections when he brought the $2,200 doll into their lives.

She probably noticed the effect it had on her depressed son.

She decided to be supportive instead of telling him that treating it like a real child wasn’t normal.

A series of photographs uploaded on a Chinese social website shows the unlikely father-daughter duo enjoying days out at the cinema and in cafés.

As sad and strange as this story may be, there’s also something heartwarming about their unusual bond.

The story of Song Bo and the doll he named Xiao Die quickly became viral in China. Surprisingly, now that he's famous, more and more people stopped treating Song like a nutcase, and even became very supportive.