Former Beyond member Steve Wong performs at a concert called "Lee Passion BEYOND," in South China's Guangzhou city on November 1, 2005. Photo: VCG

 Thursday marks the 36th year of Hong Kong-based band Beyond, and many fans said their songs resonate with people from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

Although the group disbanded in 2005, and most of their songs are in Cantonese, the band's music continues to be popular in China.

"Thank you for gifting me with Glorious Years (also the name of the band's song)," many Sina Weibo users said on Thursday. 

On NetEase Cloud Music, a major Chinese music platform, many of their songs have received tens of thousands of comments. Most of them talk about the spiritual support their songs provide. 

Some netizens said Beyond's songs resonated with people in Hong Kong and the mainland because "their songs are not just about love, but also ideals and peace. They truly care about society and humanity."

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 2017, the People's Daily launched a survey themed, "What is your favorite Hong Kong Cantonese song." More than 30,000 net users participated, and two of the group's songs made the top three. 

"Me and my friends in Hong Kong always has a lot to say when it comes to the band," Hou Zejiang, 25, a mainland postgraduate student at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Hou added that his affection for the band was influenced by his family as his father always played the band's music on tape when he was young. 

In 1988, Beyond performed in Beijing, which marked their debut on the Chinese mainland, and also the first Hong Kong band to perform in the mainland. Over 18,000 people attended the concert.

After the return of Hong Kong in 1997, exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong have become more frequent, and people are linked more closely through music. 

In 2008, their song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" was rearranged and sung by stars from Hong Kong and the mainland to raise funds for victims of the devastating earthquake in Wenchuan, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. 

"Where there are Chinese, there are people singing their songs," a Weibo user wrote on Tuesday. 

Beyond is representative of Hong Kong's cultural prosperity in the 1980s and 90s. Songs by Andy Lau and Leslie Cheun, films by Jackie Chan and Stephen Chou all impressed mainland audiences at that time, a cultural critic surnamed Yang told the Global Times on Tuesday.