Teresa Teng

Teresa Teng, (TENG LI-CHÜN), Chinese singer (born Jan. 29, 1953, Yün-lin county, Taiwan—died May 8, 1995, Chiang Mai, Thailand), was a superstar throughout East Asia and was especially admired in her homeland, where she earned the affection of fans by entertaining troops with her renditions of Mandarin love songs. Although she repeatedly declined invitations to visit the People’s Republic of China, pirated recordings of her songs could be found even in remote villages. The government’s effort to ban Teng’s songs as "spiritual pollution" proved futile. Her popularity was so great that it was said to rival that of Deng Xiaoping (Teng Hsiao-p’ing), China’s paramount leader, with whom she shared a surname. A popular saying was that Old Deng ruled the day and Little Teng the night. Her transnational success was attributed to her multilingualism (she sang in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and English), her clear and sweet vocals, and her heart-rending love songs, which appealed to both young...