China's legendary opera singer and renowned music professor Zhou Xiaoyan has passed away on Friday at age 98, after a long battle with cancer.

Liao Changyong, Vice president of Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Zhou's former student, revealed the news on Weibo.

"I am so sad. She was like a mother to her students," he wrote in his post.

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Condolences soon poured in from the music community and from all other quarters as the news of Zhou's death spread.

Zhou was born in Wuhan, a small town in Central China's Hubei Province, in 1917. She showed tremendous inclination for music during early childhood days. Her instinctive love for music prompted her parents to enroll her in the Shanghai State Music College in 1935.

She became a household name across China when she sang 'The Ballad of the Great Wall' to infuse patriotic feeling among Chinese citizens following Japan's invasion over China in 1937. Zhou's powerful rendition struck chord with the Chinese masses and her song became immensely popular across the country.

But the war forced the young singer to leave her home country and relocate to Paris where she lived throughout the Second World War.

Soon after the end of Second World War, Zhou began an international tour, performing in many European countries between 1946-47. The west was  left spell bound by Zhou's immaculately melodious voice, earning her the famous nickname 'Chinese nightingale.'

Following her international success, Zhou returned to her native country and began her career as a music teacher aShanghai Conservatory of Music, where she remained an instructor for more than 65 years.

As a teacher, Zhou was known for having phenomenal eye for talent, helping many of her students to make flourishing and highly successful international opera careers.

When someone once asked Zhou when we will she stop working for music.

The legendary opera singer replied, "When my coffin lid is closed. There is no retirement for me. I will do this for a lifetime".

TagsZhou Xiaoyan, Chinese Nightingale