Teresa Teng
Real Name: Li-yun Teng
Birth-place: Yun-ling County, Taiwan
Date of Birth: 1953.1.29
Date of Decease: 1995.5.8
Her Life (Written by Teng's Investigation Team)
Teresa Teng is a well-known singer and her voice is very gentle and gracefully glides through the air like a song-bird. She was born in 1953 in Yunlin County, her real name is Li-yun Teng, her father is in the military and when she was 6, she moved with her family to Lujhou to stay in a veterans' village, next to the Jhungjheng Road, but even though her family was not wealthy she was still very optimistic.
During her schooling period she studied at Lujhou Elementary School, and when she was young her mother would play music for her by using the gramophone. Since her home was too small, her father would take her next to Tamshui River to practice singing; later she was also taken to perform at the Nine-Three Band and had trained a good voice. However, it was during a school anniversary celebration performance that the teachers discovered her voice and began sending her to represent the school during singing competitions and public speech competitions, and she always achieved first-place. Teresa Teng had a mild personality that was as charming as her appearance.
For middle school, she attended the Ginling Girls' High School, but had to stop her schooling due to her singing career. At the age of 14, she released her first album, ¡§Celebration Drums¡¨, and moved out of her home in Lujhou.
After joining the entertainment industry, her graceful voice and charming appearance quickly made her extremely popular. She was very patriotic and often performed for the soldiers in military camps, so that they could temporarily relax ¡V the soldiers called her ¡§The army's idol¡¨. At the time, China was still closed but the Chinese people also loved her voice and called her ¡§Teresa Teng¡¨, and she became as popular as their leader at the time, Deng Xiaoping. She had also sang many well-known songs, including: Sweetness, Comeback and Only you; which are still being played today.
Later on in her life, she relocated overseas and began to slowly move away from the entertainment industry. In May 1995, she died from an asthma attack in Chiang-Mai, Thailand, and left behind eternal longings.
She is Yunlin's daughter and the treasure of Lujhou.
If you think of Yunlin as the birthplace of Teresa Teng, then Lujhou would be the cradle for her development.
Study Career (Provided by Teacher Han-chuan Liao)
When she was in Grade 4, if her father did not have the opportunity to take her elsewhere for voice training (she would be too noisy at home). Mr. Ce-ming Fei (her father's friend), who is also Tereasa's teacher at this school, would take her on his bicycle to the Tamshui River side (directly across Shetze) to practice her voice.
Once in her senior year in elementary school, when she sat next to the corridor on the second row from the right, second last seat from the back, close to break period the student behind her had tied her long ponytail to her seatback, so when the student-head called for break, she almost lifted her seat when everyone stood up and bought on roaring laughter from her classmates.
Since a young age, her mother had accompanied her to her performances, and at night on their way home they would sometimes stop at Teacher Yueh-ching Li's father's restaurant to enjoy noodles.
She is deeply sentimental and besides singing she is also talented in acting. Once during rehearsal for ¡§The Patriotic Child¡¨, Teacher Ce-ming Fei had told her that, when he starts to play the huqin (musical instrument) she must wet her fingers with saliva and wet around her eyes to imitate tears, before turning to face the audience, but she did not do so and simply cried real tears when the music started, which indicated her rich emotions. Sometimes when her father bought food for her and stayed to watch her practice the performance, she would not let him stay.
After having won a big award and returned to Taiwan, Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd. had arranged for a recording with her at school, but they were late and would only arrive at 4:30pm, so after school she had stayed with Teacher Yan-ching Wang's students and danced folk dance with them in the office.
After her death every year, many fans from different countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, America & Japan) had visited this school, and there were people from the media who did interviews and recordings.
Looking at Teresa Teng from the aspects of different generations
<1960~1970s> With a tutorial sheet the parents and teachers were interviewed to understand what they thought of Teresa Teng: Teresa Teng was a patriotic celebrity of our time and often performed at charity events for soldiers. Her endearing voice touched everyone's heart. She was fluent in English, Japanese, French and Cantonese and very talented. She promoted Chinese culture and during oversea performances, she always wore the culture-representing Chinese Dress, and was well loved and celebrated by the overseas Chinese, which is why she is still the model for Chinese singers.
When she was alive, she often performed for soldiers. She was the army's idol and her famous songs were well memorized by the soldiers, for example, The Moon Knows My Heart, Innumerable Words and Can't Keep Your Heart. But although she was a superstar she still lived a simple life and was a remarkable performer.
People from our generation grew up by listening to Teresa Teng. In our mind, her status is like the current stars, Jolin Tsai and Jay, who are known throughout the country and even the world, but her death was heartbreaking and a great loss. Her voice was charming, gracious and gentle to the ears, and while performing her emotional input always attracted people and touched their hearts. She had accompanied me during my studies, so I will always think of her.
<1980s> We interviewed our guidance-teachers and asked them to write out their thoughts on Teresa Teng: When Teresa Teng died, we were in elementary school. At the time the television continued to show her concerts and the story of her life, and that was how we got to know her. But when we found out that she was a graduate of Lujhou Elementary School she felt even closer. Although the style of her song is different to the pop music, her voice was like a clear stream that cleansed our souls.
Although we do not hear her songs often, but on the occasions that we did hear it we had felt comfort and delightful. Compared to our regular music, her songs made us feel different Teresa Teng was a singer loved by our parents' generation, and I think she must be really good to still be mourned so many years after her death! I hope other celebrities in Taiwan can try to be like her and not always think about money, so as to properly promote our culture and let the whole world know about our Taiwan.
<1990s> Views of the members of the Teng's Investigation Team: Teresa Teng used to live in Taiwan. When she was young, she performed in competition and after joining the entertainment industry later on, she then went to places like Hong Kong and Japan. During this process, Teresa Teng had worked continuously through obstacles to send her voice across the world, and it was due to her hard work that people still remember her after her departure from this world.
Although I have never seen her personally, but I heard that when she was young she was exceptionally elegant and had a beautiful voice; she had built her foundations from a young age. Of course behind such success lies a persevering spirit, which should be learnt by everyone.
Teresa Teng had graduated from Lujhou Elementary School. She developed her international career after growing up. It was a known fact that she made the whole country proud, and we also feel honored to be studying at Lujhou Elementary School.
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