{"id":39650,"date":"2025-06-08T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=39650"},"modified":"2025-06-09T06:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T06:10:07","slug":"the-eternal-queen-of-asian-pop-sings-one-last-encore-from-beyond-the-grave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-eternal-queen-of-asian-pop-sings-one-last-encore-from-beyond-the-grave\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Eternal Queen of Asian Pop\u2019 sings one last encore from beyond the grave"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Xianda Huang<\/a>, University of California, Los Angeles<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago, an employee at Universal Music came across a cassette tape in a Tokyo warehouse while sorting through archival materials. On it was a recording by the late Taiwanese pop star Teresa Teng that had never been released; the pop ballad, likely recorded in the mid-1980s while Teng was living and performing in Japan, was a collaboration between composer Takashi Miki and lyricist Toyohisa Araki<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, to the delight of her millions of fans, the track titled \u201cLove Songs Are Best in the Foggy Night<\/a>\u201d will appear on an album<\/a> set to be released on June 25, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teng died 30 years ago<\/a>. Most Americans know little about her life and her body of work. Yet the ballads of Teng, who could sing in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Indonesian<\/a>, continue to echo through karaoke rooms, on Spotify playlists, at tribute concerts and at family gatherings across Asia and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I study<\/a> how pop music has served as a tool of soft power, and I\u2019ve spent the past several years researching Teng\u2019s music and its legacy. I\u2019ve found that Teng\u2019s influence endures not just because of her voice, but also because her music transcends Asia\u2019s political fault lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From local star to Asian icon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1953 in Yunlin, Taiwan, Teresa Teng grew up in one of the many villages that were built<\/a> to house soldiers and their families who had fled mainland China in 1949 after the communists claimed victory in the Chinese civil war<\/a>. Her early exposure to traditional Chinese music and opera laid the foundation for her singing career. By age 6, she was taking voice lessons. She soon began winning local singing competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t adults who wanted me to sing,\u201d Teng wrote in her memoir<\/a>. \u201cI wanted to sing. As long as I could sing, I was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 14, Teng dropped out of high school to focus entirely on music, signing with the local label Yeu Jow Records. Soon thereafter, she released her first album, \u201cFengyang Flower Drum<\/a>.\u201d In the 1970s, she toured and recorded across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Southeast Asia, becoming one of Asia\u2019s first truly transnational pop stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teng\u2019s career flourished in the late 1970s and 1980s. She released some of her most iconic tracks, such as her covers of Chinese singer Zhou Xuan\u2019s 1937 hit \u201cWhen Will You Return?<\/a>\u201d and Taiwanese singer Chen Fen-lan\u2019s \u201cThe Moon Represents My Heart<\/a>,\u201d and toured widely across Asia, sparking what came to be known as \u201cTeresa Teng Fever<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1990s, Teng was forced to stop performing for health reasons. She died suddenly of an asthma attack<\/a> on May 8, 1995, while on vacation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at the age of 42.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China catches Teng Fever<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Teng\u2019s story is that Teng Fever peaked in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teng was ethnically Chinese, with ancestral roots in China\u2019s Shandong province<\/a>. But the political divide between China and Taiwan following the Chinese civil war had led to decades of hostility, with each side refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the other<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Black
Teng speaks at a press conference in Hong Kong in 1980. P.Y. Tang\/South China Morning Post via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the late 1970s and 1980s, however, China began to relax its political control under Deng Xiaoping\u2019s Reform and Opening Up<\/a> policy. This sweeping initiative shifted China toward a market-oriented economy, encouraged foreign trade and investment, and cautiously reintroduced global cultural influences after decades of isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pop music from other parts of the world began trickling in, including Teng\u2019s tender ballads. Her songs could be heard<\/a> in coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Shanghai, inland cities such as Beijing and Tianjin, and even remote regions such as Tibet. Shanghai\u2019s propaganda department wrote an internal memo in 1980<\/a> noting that her music had spread to the city\u2019s public parks, restaurants, nursing homes and wedding halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teng\u2019s immense popularity in China was no accident; it reflected a time in the country\u2019s history when its people were particularly eager for emotionally resonant art after decades of cultural propaganda and censorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a society that had been awash in rote, revolutionary songs like \u201cThe East is Red<\/a>\u201d and \u201cUnion is Strength<\/a>,\u201d Teng\u2019s music offered something entirely different. It was personal, tender and deeply human. Her gentle, approachable style \u2013 often described as \u201cangelic\u201d or like that of \u201ca girl next door<\/a>\u201d \u2013 provided solace and a sense of intimacy that had long been absent from public life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teng\u2019s music was also admired for her ability to bridge eras. Her 1983 album \u201cLight Exquisite Feeling<\/a>\u201d fused classical Chinese poetry with contemporary Western pop melodies, showcasing her gift for blending the traditional and the modern. It cemented her reputation not just as a pop star but as a cultural innovator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no secret why audiences across China and Asia were so deeply drawn to her and her music. She was fluent in multiple languages; she was elegant but humble, polite and relatable; she was involved in various charities; and she spoke out in support of democratic values<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sound of home in distant lands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chinese immigrant population in the United States grew to over 1.1 million<\/a>. Teng\u2019s music has also deeply embedded itself within Chinese diasporic communities across the country. In cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, Chinese immigrants played her music at family gatherings, during holidays and at community events. Walk through any Chinatown during Lunar New Year<\/a> and you\u2019re bound to hear her voice wafting through the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Young
Teng visits New York City\u2019s Chinatown during her 1980 concert tour in the U.S. Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For younger Chinese Americans and even non-Chinese audiences, Teng\u2019s music has become a window into Chinese culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was studying in the U.S., I often met Asian American students who belted out her songs at karaoke nights or during cultural festivals. Many had grown up hearing her music through their parents\u2019 playlists or local community celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The release of her recently discovered song is a reminder that some voices do not fade \u2013 they evolve, migrate and live on in the hearts of people scattered across the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an age when global politics drive different cultures apart, Teng\u2019s enduring appeal reminds us of something quieter yet more lasting: the power of voice to transmit emotion across time and space, the way a melody can build a bridge between continents and generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently rewatched the YouTube video for Teng\u2019s iconic 1977 ballad \u201cThe Moon Represents My Heart<\/a>.\u201d As I read the comments section, one perfectly encapsulated what I had discovered about Teresa Teng in my own research: \u201cTeng\u2019s music opened a window to a culture I never knew I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xianda Huang<\/a>, PhD student in Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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