Renowned pianist Fu Ts’ong has died from COVID-19 on Monday at the age of 86 in London, according to the Fryderyk Chopin Institute and the Alink-Argerich Foundation.

Wang Dan, Chinese dissident and former leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, said the news came as a shock. “His and his parents’ lives were written with the blood and tears of intellectuals under the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party,” he wrote on Facebook.

Li Yundi, a contemporary Chinese pianist, wrote: “May the timeless music always be with you in heaven so you will never be alone.”

Born in Shanghai in 1934, Fu displayed his musical talent at the young age of three and studied under the tutelage of Italian conductor Mario Paci and Ada Bronstein from the former USSR. He was propelled into national fame after his debut with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in 1952.

He began participating in international competitions in 1953 and came third at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955, after which he stayed in Poland.

Though the Chinese Embassy demanded his return, he eventually travelled to the U.K., knowing what fate awaited him in China, where the Cultural Revolution was wreaking havoc across the country. “As father and son, we would have to report on and condemn each other. It would be too brutal for both of us, given our strong pride and reluctance to speak against our hearts,” he said at the time. “I left in great pain and disappointment.”

Despite his talent, he struggled to make a living as he was not allowed to perform overseas as a Chinese national. He obtained British citizenship in 1965, a move that was seen as a betrayal to his country. His parents, including his father Fu Lei, a well-known interpreter and writer, were persecuted and humiliated as a result, and took their lives in 1966.

Fu began performing around the world and released around 50 albums. In 1979, he returned to China to vindicate his father and has since then performed regularly in the country. He also gave a spectacular performance with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in 2004.

“My father encourages me to be a cultured person, only then would your playing be graceful. You are first a human, before you are an artist or a pianist,” he spoke of the impression made upon him by his father.

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