Guo Liu, 45, was out with his friends three months ago when he suddenly collapsed and fell unconscious.
His friend explained: "We had been having a few drinks and of course Liu was smoking when he dropped one of the cigarettes on the ground.
"But when he bent down to pick it up he suddenly fell over unconscious.
"At first we thought he was fooling around as he can be a bit of a joker. But then we realised he wasn’t breathing and phoned an ambulance."
According to Metro.co.uk, doctors said he was suffering from severe cerebral haemorrhaging and that his chances of survival were less than 5%.
After three months in hospital, his wife received a devastating call from doctors; Guo had died.
But, as she and the family prepared for his funeral, something miraculous happened.
Guo was wheezing - and he had tears in his eyes.
His family rushed him back to hospital, where stunned medics revealed that they had "never seen anything like this before."
A spokesman said: "He will now be kept under constant observation until he recovers fully and we will then be able to assess just how bad the brain damage is.
"It is likely that his speech, memories and mobility will be severely affected though."