His image adorns property development advertising hoardings and his name has become a popular T-shirt slogan. He is a pig.

He is “Strong-Willed Pig” to be precise, a porker who sprang to fame after surviving for 36 days in the rubble of China’s huge earthquake in May.

As winter bears down on human survivors living in makeshift homes nearly seven months after the tremor, the hardy pig has become a popular symbol of tenacity. Strong-Willed Pig receives dozens, sometimes hundreds, of visitors each day in his new home at the Jianchuan Museum set up to commemorate the 8.0 magnitude earthquake that killed about 90,000 people in southwestern Sichuan province.

“If a pig has the will to live for so many days, then people too can feel a greater will to overcome their difficulties,” said He Xinyong, the manager of the museum.

T-shirts are available that are decorated with a drawing of a plump hog and bear the words: “I am fat, I am strong-willed.” Visitors to his pen are exhorted not to feed him and not to speak loudly.

A notice beside his new home reads: “Thank you for caring about Strong-Willed Pig.”

Among the thousands of internet postings dedicated to him is an interview with the porcine hero. Asked if he knows how many days he survived trapped under his owner’s collapsed home, he says: “You pig-head, you know I’m a pig, how could I count that?”

No one thought to search for the pig because the owners of the house under which he was reared knew that their property had crumpled and it never occurred to them that any livestock could have lived through the May 12 disaster. An army rescue team searching for the valuables of residents came across the animal on June 19.

The pig had lost two-thirds of his body-weight. He had survived by drinking rainwater and eating charcoal after a store room collapsed and trapped him. After his rescue he was fed on grass from surrounding hillsides – as well as more charcoal as recommended by a vet who said that the pig’s digestive system had adapted to his new diet and needed to be carefully weaned.

Mr He said: “He is now back to his previous weight and is pink again.” Strong-Willed Pig was a dirty grey when discovered in the ruins.

Fame has brought its rewards. His daily diet is supplied by China’s biggest pig feed manufacturer, the aptly named New Hope Group. He has had vaccinations and a free insurance policy that guarantees to pay 5,000 yuan (£475) to the owner if the animal dies in the next decade.

Strong-Willed Pig is luckier than his 16 companions at the Jianchuan Museum. They are fated to end up at the butcher’s. After all, pork is the staple meat in China – and Sichuan province is its biggest hog-raising region.

Times Recommends

• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating