唱北京奥运会主题歌《我和你》的歌手刘欢去世，享年63岁

At 9:52 a.m. on September 25, the musician Liu Huan died of illness in Shanghai, at the age of sixty-three.

The news was announced by the University of International Business and Economics, where he had taught for more than thirty years.

The obituary called him "a musician known to every household in the country," and said that, following his wishes, his funeral would be simple: no funeral committee, no farewell ceremony and no memorial service.

The Chinese Musicians' Association, his alma mater the University of International Relations, and other institutions then published tributes one after another.

A Caixin photo gallery took its headline from a lyric almost everyone can sing: the man who went "storming across the land like wind and fire" is gone.

For several generations of Chinese people, that lyric needs almost no introduction.

Liu Huan was born in Tianjin in August 1963.

In 1981 he entered the University of International Relations to study French, a subject with nothing to do with music.

His alma mater's tribute recalls that in his first year he found an idle piano on campus.

After that, every day he wolfed down lunch, practiced from twelve to two, then hurried off to his afternoon classes.

In 1985, while still a student, he won first prize in both the English-song and French-song contests for Beijing's universities.

After graduating he stayed on as a teacher there until 1991.

Fellow alumnus and writer Zhu Yong recalls that when Liu Huan taught Western music history, he would bring his own tape recorder to the lectern and play the work of whichever composer he was discussing.

Zhu Yong also recalled that Liu Huan once turned down a performance so he could teach his class on time.

It was also in these years that Liu Huan's voice reached households across the country.

In 1987 he sang "No Sorrow for the Young and Ambitious," the theme song of the TV drama "Plainclothes Police," and became famous nationwide overnight.

In 1998 he sang "Hero's Song" for the TV drama "Water Margin" — bold and direct, it was sung in every street and alley.

At the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he sang the theme song "You and Me" as a duet with the British soprano Sarah Brightman.

Its melody is gentle and its lyrics simple, with no grand slogans, yet it made audiences around the world remember his voice.

But on another business card, his title was always university teacher.

In July 1991 he moved to the University of International Business and Economics as a teacher in its arts department, later becoming an associate professor; in 2011 he was also elected to the university's third board of trustees.

His Western Music History course was one of the university's signature arts courses, and he also composed the music for the school song.

In September 2023 he retired from the university after more than thirty years of teaching.

In 2019 he put up his own money to set up the "Liu Huan Original Music Charity Fund" together with a charity fund under the Hunan Broadcasting group, to support original music.

The obituary did not mention a specific cause of illness.

A singer who once sang to the whole world at an Olympic opening ceremony left us, in the end, with a farewell that had almost no ceremony at all.

His songs are still being sung, and his classes still live on in his students' memories.

If someone asked you what the best way to remember a person is, how would you answer?