He Yu’nian (1881 ~ 1962), nicked name Shu Ren, Zi Yu’nian, was from Bei Cun Shawan town, whose grandfather He Bozhong was Pipa performer and composer. His father died when he was young, and since then his family became poor because of that. He was educated in private school since his childhood, and got a good knowledge on calligraphy. After growing up, he went to Guangzhou with his elder brother being a clerk in feudal government office. After the founding of the Republic of China, the feudal government office was dissolved, so he had to return to his hometown Shawan. In his early years, he lost his wife, and being as the widow throughout rest of his life. 

He Yu’nian was not only good at playing musical instrument, such as Pipa, Sanxian, Erhu, Yangqin, but also engaged in composing Canton music due to being educated by his brother He Liutang, and especially The Spring in Small Garden was his preferred one. He Yu’nian had been influenced a lot by the western music, and payed much attention on studying skills, the innervation of Canton music, as well as pursuing democratic thought of individual liberation. The way to freely express his inner feelings during the period of composing music was different from the plain and strict style of He Liutang. 

In 1931, He Liutang was invited by New Moon Record Company to record his works, such as Dragon Boat Race, Hui Wenjin, meanwhile He Yu’nian went together to assist recording with him. That’s why he was known by the public. During his staying in Shanghai, he widely communicated with the north famous musicians and learned a lot of skills on the traditional well known music Ambush from All Sides, which also enriched his playing skills and improved his creation level.   

In 1935, He Yu’nian transferred to Hong Kong and made a living as a musician. During that period, he had educated some talented musicians, such as Chen Hou, Yao Hanjie, and recorded albums with He Shaoxia, Yin Zizhong, Lv Wencheng, Mai Shaofeng, Li Jie. Until Hong Kong fell down, he escaped to Macau. Sometimes he went to Hong Kong for recording albums, mainly by playing Pipa, and together with Sanxian (a three stringed plucked instrument) and dulcimer. 

In 1941, the war of anti-Japan Invasion was in tough stage, the sense of national justice inspired him to create a song named Stormy Sea to encourage the nations. He said although the heavy storm was heavy, it could not smash the rock, on the contrary it made it more endurable. 

After the victory of the war of resistance against Japan, he returned hometown to live alone, and spent most of the time to play and study music. Since He Shaoxie died during the period when China was invaded, He Shaoxia and his playing with Pipa were considered as the Best Skills in the town. His last composition in Shawan was Bright Spring and all happy families, which expressing the joy and satisfaction of the families while the sadness and starving of the poor families, through the obvious comparison to expose the unfair society.

After 1949, He Yu’nian left for Hong Kong again, and still worked as musician. During the period in Hong Kong, he got many chance to know about Chaozhou music, and composed the Chaozhou style music Heard about the warhorse Sound at Midnight. He started to add the sided music for Canton Opera, and created lots of music, like the Pipa and Lute beyond the Great Wall.  In the autumn of 1961, he led a troupe to play in Guangzhou, meanwhile composting two pieces of music, like Resist Invasion. 

Besides composition, he was very keen in the study of Canton Opera’s singing voice and performance. In his opinion, tune’s prolongation should match with characters and be in appropriate scenarios. He found that rare canton operas applied music to make up the silent and boring moment during the period of actors rest. Thus he purposely designed many kinds of music to solve the problem, which also made the content consistent. This kind of music was called prolongation music. Later many kinds of prolongation music had developed into independent music. Because he was very knowledgeable about Canton Opera singing tunes, many famous Canton Opera troupes often had him as their consultant to design the singing tunes. 

In 1962 He Yuan’nian died in Hong Kong. He was childless, and left rare properties after his death. The entertainment circles in Hong Kong held the funeral and the memorial service for him. There are more than 40 pieces of important works created by him, such as In Memorial of Wang Sun, The Breeze and the Moon, The Sunset Glow, The Crane Screaming in the Sky, China Hero, who composed the most works among The Three He’s.