In a solemn ceremony tucked away in the Reitz Union's Rion Ballroom Tuesday night, friends and family of Han Yang watched his trademark smile come to life on a projection screen.
Yang, a 26-year-old UF engineering graduate student from China, was found dead in his apartment complex's pool July 3. Police did not suspect foul play in his death.
The focus of the somber memorial, however, was not the way Yang died but the way he lived, which according to some of his closest friends and faculty members, was always with a smile.
"Whenever I saw Han, he had a smile to offer, and I knew the feelings behind it were sincere," said Reynaldo Roque, Yang's Ph.D. adviser, in front of the crowd of about 150.
All the seats were filled, and about 20 people stood in the back of the room.
While speakers addressed the crowd, the murmur of an interpreter could be heard translating the speeches to Yang's parents, Zhiping Li and Hongyao Yang, who arrived from China last week. Members of the Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars, which organized the ceremony, helped Yang's parents get passports quickly so they could come to the ceremony.
Yang was the couple's only child.
Clips from homemade movies Yang captured during the last seven months played on the projection screen.
Many depicted Yang by Lake Michigan with his girlfriend, Jia Meng, who attends the University of Wisconsin. They met in China and had been dating for two years.
The two were depicted constantly laughing as they tried to pull the camera away from one another.
UF President Bernie Machen spoke after the video played. Although he never knew Yang, Machen said he could tell from the clips that Yang was warm and fun-loving.
"That's the Han I saw up there tonight, and that's the Han I will always remember," he said.
Machen also acknowledged the hard times the Chinese have experienced recently.
"We mourned the loss of Chinese citizens in the flood, and now we mourn the loss of Han Yang, one of our best and brightest students," he said.
When Yang came to UF, Tianbao Huang, a volunteer from Yang's church, picked him up from the airport in Jacksonville.
Huang said that with his constant smile, Yang easily fit in.
"He was an only child, but I will remember him like an older brother in a larger family," Huang said.
