Photo:Li Hao/GT

A farewell ceremony for renowned physicist and Nobel laureate Chen Ning Yang, who passed away on October 18 at the age of 103, is held in Beijing where, despite temperatures dipping below 10 C under gloomy morning skies, mourners from all walks of life gathered to pay their final respects.

To mourn and cherish the memory of Yang, a farewell ceremony took place at 9 am on Friday at the Babaoshan funeral home in Beijing. Tsinghua University's leadership, faculty, students, and alumni attended the ceremony, the university said in a statement on its official website. Yang had served as a professor and honorary director of the Institute for Advanced Study at the university.

Among the mourners was Hao Lian, a sophomore from Tsinghua's Department of Physics. She told the Global Times on Friday that many students carried copies of Yang's biography or his book Shu Guang, or Dawn Light, while some pinned Tsinghua's school badge to their chests in tribute.

Hao shared with the Global Times that she first learned about Yang in detail during her freshman year, deeply moved by the stories recounted by her teachers. "I truly admire his academic spirit," she said. 

Through reading Yang's stories, Hao said she also felt the physicist's journey - from Tsinghua to global acclaim and finally back to his alma mater - epitomized unwavering patriotism.

On the bus back to campus after the ceremony, Hao read several articles about Yang's life and contributions, and was moved to tears once more. Although she never met him in person, she told the Global Times, "In my heart, he remains a vivid and tangible presence. I will continue to follow the path he illuminated."

"While I am still in the stage of accumulating knowledge, I will do my utmost to contribute to fundamental sciences, living up to the expectations Professor Yang once held for us," Hao said. 

Mo Yan, China's Nobel laureate in literature, also paid tribute on Friday. "A great mind has passed away, yet his wisdom endures," Mo wrote on his WeChat account.

Meanwhile, a large number of people flocked at the funeral home to bid their final farewell to Yang. 

Global Times reporters saw that long before the ceremony started, a number of people had already queued up near the venue, dressed in dark clothing. 

A Beijing resident told the Global Times that there were so many people who had come to bid farewell to Yang that the roads were congested. It took him roughly one and a half hours to reach the venue.

A florist near the funeral home told the Global Times that before 9 am that morning, more than a dozen customers had already come to purchase chrysanthemums.

Global Times reporters saw at the scene that the line included elderly people, young adults, and children.

Luo Ruike, an elderly man in the farewell line, said that he hoped more people would be guided by Yang's spirit, contribute to physics-related sciences and technologies, and to the advancement of science in China.

Chen Duoyu, from the Department of the History of Science at Tsinghua University, brought his young daughter to the ceremony.

When asked by reporters why he had brought his child to the scene that day, Chen said, "This is what we Chinese people ought to do. Bidding farewell is the sincerest sentiment of the Chinese." 

"Yang lived through turbulent times, yet he nurtured a great mind and spirit. It is our honor to have lived in the same era as him," he stressed, adding that Yang had made significant contributions not only to scientific research but also to the popularization of scientific culture. 

"Bidding farewell to him farewell today is not an end, but a magnificent new beginning."