Part 1: Teresa Teng - Early Life and Career

As I was organizing my songwriting files on the computer, I stumbled across an old assignment from college. It was an essay paper of my final project in my "Women in Music" class.

Me being me (and the fact that I was the only visible minority student in class), I did not want to research a classical Western musician from 500 years ago.

I wanted to be annoyingly different, and so I asked my instructor for permission to research a woman musician who was NOT from the West.

Also, it’s not too often you get an opportunity to talk about one of history's most controversial leaders, Chairman Mao (Mao Zedong) *ahem*

And so, I am glad I asked and I got approval!

I enjoyed working on the assignment and felt rewarded with learning more about my heritage, and Teresa Teng, who is regarded (at least to Asians), as one of the greatest modern era music artists in Asian history.

I had an opportunity to present this at a symposium too, but declined the offer as I was dealing with stress at the time; the abrupt closure of the music program at the college I was attending.

So here I am today, sharing with you the research and essay paper I did, "Teresa Teng (1953-1995) - Cultural Liberation Through Song".

I hope you enjoy reading it!

*All relevant information have been referenced accordingly. Please see references at the end of the post.

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Teresa Teng - Asia's Eternal Queen of Pop

Part 1: Teresa Teng - Early Life and Career

I've been listening to Teresa Teng's songs since I was a young child.

Even though I did not receive formal Mandarin education, somehow I was able to learn how to enunciate and sing her songs easily.

And that was the beauty of Teresa's songs, which gained popularity worldwide.

At any celebratory occasion in Malaysia, be it a wedding, family gathering or karaoke, you can find Teresa's songs being played or sung by the common folk.

There is a popular saying:

"Wherever there are Chinese people, Teresa Teng's songs can be heard" (Mok, 2020)

Teresa Teng, or Deng Lijun, had a big cultural influence through her music in the Chinese diaspora.

While she was popular in diverse societies in Asia, it is the events in mainland China that were important in history; where she was seen as an icon of modernity and a hope for freedom.

Her songs were used as propaganda for a period of time during the Cold War, where tensions arose between China and Taiwan.

She had a distinctive gentle voice, and she was well-known for her "breathiness" and "vibrato" singing technique.

Soothing listeners and audiences with her simple songs of love and pleasures of life, Teresa effectively merged the culture of Western pop style into traditional oriental music, and introduced pop culture to Asia, making her a legendary idol in Chinese culture.

Teresa Teng's concert at Lincoln Centre, New York, 1980 | Image Source: Wikimedia.org

Unknown to many, Teresa did travel to North America to perform at the peak of her fame and she achieved worldwide success:

1979

Vancouver, Canada

San Francisco, US

Los Angeles, US

1980

Lincoln Center, New York

Los Angeles Music Centre, California

1983

The Colosseum at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas

... as well as in Paris, Germany, and many countries in South East Asia.

Teresa performs music for a military audience | Image Source: Wikimedia.org

Teresa was born in 1953 in Yunlin County, Taiwan. She was the daughter of Deng Xuwei, a Chinese nationalist who fled to Taiwan in 1949 after communists took over mainland China. She is the only daughter among five children.

Times were very difficult, with the family almost living in poverty. Nevertheless, she was exposed to music at an early age as both her parents enjoy music. Her father favored Beijing opera, and her mother was an enthusiast of Huangmei theater.

Teresa began singing at a young age, and received voice lessons from an acquaintance of her father’s who was an instructor of an air force band.

During the 1950s in Taiwan, the people still lived in a military environment. Therefore, many musical performances were done before military audiences, of which Teng was introduced to by her mentor.

She was popularly known as “Military Sweetheart” and “Patriotic Entertainer”, as her singing brought lots of warmth and comfort to soldiers of the country.

| Image Source: library.taiwanschoolnet.org

If there was one unique attribute Teresa had, it was her amazing multilingual skills, which allowed her to sing in a variety of languages.

She has recorded songs in Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, Japanese, English, French and Indonesian. Her profound proficiency in different languages gave Teresa the opportunity to assimilate into various cultural markets by doing covers of existing hits in different languages.

Besides charity and military concerts, Teresa sang in various local competitions, stage performances, and at Taiwanese nightclubs. It wasn’t easy juggling performances, competitions, training and school.

At the age of 18, Teresa dropped out of high school, with her father’s approval, to become a professional singer. Her father, who was originally from Hebei province in northern China, is also said to have influenced her singing style with his appreciation for northern folk ballads.

Champion of "China Radio" All-Taiwan Huangmei Theatre Singing Competition | Image Source: Wikimedia.org

In 1968, she received her first record contract after a performance on a popular Taiwanese music program, and went on to release several albums under Life Records label within the next few years in Taiwan.

Teresa’s passion for singing spurred her to greater heights and dreams. However, it was noted in many research articles that she did not achieve stardom until she participated in Japan’s Kohaku Uta Gassen, a year-long singing contest involving the most successful artists of the year.

In 1973, she won the prize for ‘Best New Singing Star’ and successfully signed with Polydor Japan label and went on to record several Japanese songs, including her own original song, "Give Yourself to the Flow of Time" (Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase), which was later re-written and covered in Mandarin as "I Only Care About You"7.

This song sold over 5 million copies in the Japanese market in 1986, and Teresa was named one of the Top 7 divas of the world by TIME magazine.

Even though she released 20 albums in Japan, her success did not come easy as she was initially portrayed as a sex symbol. After much perseverance and hard work with music agencies, and trying to stay true to her performance style and image of being ‘sincere, simple and elegant’, she eventually captured the hearts of the locals.

"Singer of the Year" at Kohaku Uta Gassen, 1986, Japan | Image Source: www.nippon.com/en/column/g00285 courtesy of Universal Music Japan

According to author, Hong-Chi Shiau, in one TV interview session, Teresa had expressed that her singing technique greatly ‘improved and matured in Japan’, leading her to success and fame after many years of hardship.

Despite her rising fame, Teresa always led a simple life and was patriotic in promoting Chinese culture through her performances overseas, which is why she is revered as a role model for many aspiring Chinese musicians.

She gave many free concerts to raise funds for charitable organizations and made many donations to public welfare.

While Teresa only wrote a few original songs, it was her distinctive tender singing voice that had captivated even the hearts of those who do not understand the Mandarin language.

Teresa’s songs effectively incorporated Western popular styles with traditional Chinese music forms. This is one of the reasons she is credited to being a pioneer in Mando-pop and Canto-pop, and being the first female transnational pop diva from Asia.

During her 26-year career, Teng released 25 albums that sold an astounding 22 million legitimate copies worldwide (pirated copies were estimated at 50 million-75 million.

While she may be just another celebrity artist of the time, to truly understand the power of her voice and the influence of her songs, it is imperative that we look to the events that occurred in mainland China during the 1980s.

... next up

in Part 2: Teresa Teng - Soothing Millions of Souls

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I did a short cover of Teresa Teng's famous hit song from 1973, "The Moon Represents My Heart" (月亮代表我的心) on my Youtube Channel by jazzing up the original ballad.

Watch it Here!

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Here's a nice video on Youtube about the legendary Teresa Teng

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghEam9HrDVo

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*References Used:

1. Laramie Mok, “5 of Teresa Teng’s songs, each in a different language – 25 years after the legendary Taiwanese singer died from an asthma attack,” 6 May 2020, South China Morning Post, https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3083112/5-teresa-tengs-songs-each-different-language-25-years?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3083112

2. David B. Gordon, “Association for Asian Studies”, Prodigy of Taiwan, Diva of Asia: Teresa Teng, accessed 18 October 2022, https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/prodigy-of-taiwan-diva-of-asia-teresa-teng

3. Akira Tada, “Nikkei ASIA”, Teresa Teng’s songs still resonate 20 years on, accessed 18 October 2022, https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Teresa-Teng-s-songs-still-resonate-20-years-on

4. Sijia Yao, “Teresa Teng in Diaspora: Affective Replacement in Chinese World-Making,” Comparative Literature Studies, Vol. 57, No. 3 (2020): 521

5. Jane M. Ferguson, “I Was Cool When My Country Wasn’t: Mao and Deng Making Transnational Music in the Golden Triangle,” Asian Music, Vol. 47 No. 2 (2016): 120

6. Hong-Chi Shiau, “Migration, nostalgia and identity negotiation: Teresa Teng in the Chinese Diaspora,” Int. J. Chinese Culture and Management, Vol. 2, No. 3 (2009): 264

7. Celeb Net Worth, “Celeb Net Worth,” Teresa Teng, accessed 8 November 2022, https://www.celebnetworthpost.com/teresa-teng

8. Mike Levin, “Death of Teresa Teng Saddens all of Asia – Singer’s Popularity Spanned National Borders”, Billboard, Vol 107, Issue #20 (May 20, 1995): 3