◆ Q1:When did you start to develop an interest in Teresa Teng and collect her things? And why?

      In 1998, while Lujhou Elementary School celebrated its centennial anniversary, I was involved in researching Lujhou's history. At the time, I had wondered how I would promote Lujhou so that people would notice it, and during my search, while the school anniversary took place, I had discovered that the superstar Teresa Teng could be incorporated into Lujhou's culture. I used to often hear my seniors and siblings talk about Teresa Teng as a child, so I found out that Lujhou Elementary School had a famous person – Teresa Teng. She was already a very famous singer many years back, and later on she had gone to Japan, Hong Kong, South-east Asia and America, but never China, even though her voice had already spread there, as a result, she was very influential in the Chinese world.

      I thought that if we were to combine Lujhou and Teresa Teng, then people would easily notice our Lujhou, thus I had determined my strategy while my cultural workshop was established. I discovered that Teresa Teng had many things, and began to collect them one by one, till it reached over 200 items; I even have things that the Teresa Teng Foundation do not have. At the peak of my fanaticism I had traveled all over Taiwan in search for artifacts, but now I mostly search flea-markets, as sometimes people would keep Teresa Teng's photos, song-books, records and posters for me. So all in all it is almost my eighth year today, since 1998, and I have collected hundreds of her photos and records.

◆Q2:After having already collected so many of Teresa Teng's things, is there anything you are missing or feel disappointed about?

      Teresa Teng's favorite place was not Taiwan , but a place called Stanley in Hong Kong , where she owns a luxurious penthouse. It was looked after by her younger brother after she died, and was later sold. It contained many of her literatures and data, so it is a pity to be unable to see them and collect these precious artifacts.

      Speaking of amusing events, what was very comical was that often when buying Teresa Teng's artifacts, two or three people would start to bid for a photograph, and one would yell 500, then 600, then 700 and 800, until 1000 and 2000. Many of Teresa Teng's fans had collected these things so when we come across friends with such items the bidding would start.

◆Q3:What do you think is different about Teresa Teng when compared to the current pop stars?

      Each generation has their own pop culture. Teresa Teng was a pop culture, which is the music listened to by the average public, and her music was played everywhere at the time. What is different about her when compared to the modern singers? She had established her status in the music industry as a singer. The current idols may be well-known but may not have status in the music industry, while some singers only look good but cannot sing.

      But Teresa Teng's musical talent was truly superb and was popular. She died young and left behind good memories for the people. She was also very patriotic, which is what I feel is different with her. Since she is from a military family during events for the army, she would always accept their invitations. In addition, during the Tiananmen event she was against the ruthless methods of China . The singers now can rapidly gain popularity through the media, but Teresa Teng was different because she started as a child-singer by competing in competitions and slowly gained her stardom, and compared to the singers now, who become known by manipulating the media, she had real talents and was different.

◆Q4:How do you Teresa Teng could transform from an “Entertainer”, who was considered to have low social status, to become a person who equaled Deng XiaoPing?

      Historical figures all have their own background, and different backgrounds make different heroes or heroines. With regards to Teresa Teng, she grew up in an era where the two coasts were in opposition, and when China and Taiwan had no contact outside of war.

      Teresa Teng was very patriotic. Her father had arrived with the KMT Government, and although he was from China , he supported the KMT Government and opposed communism. During the 1980's overall environmental change, China altered its policies and opened up, as the communist party no longer maintained tight control, and began allowing people from other countries to visit China , thereby opened up business and tourism. Taiwan had already done so 10~20 years earlier.

      Teresa Teng had gained popularity during the 1980's, and according to her brother: at the time China was in the process of opening up when she was already famous in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and South-East Asia, and even though the people of China at the time had always listened to their great leader, Chair Mao and his serious topics on the communist party, they knew about a singer called Teresa Teng, whose songs contained Chinese cultures such as Jian-nan and folk tunes, which were favored by the China's people, thus trucks carrying her tapes were driven in from Hong Kong to sell her music, with sometimes 20 containers being sold daily, which equaled tens of thousands of tapes; though these tapes were pirated and not originals. Therefore, in that era every household could listen to Teresa Teng and see her, and just like when we listen to the current stars, Jay and SHE, we feel happy to listen to her. Consequently many people made it their duty to listen to Teresa Teng, during China's reform, and she had accumulated more and more fans while Deng Xiaoping was also gradually loosening his strict control over the people, as a result, in the hearts of China's people, Teresa Teng was equal to Deng Xiaoping.

      China had offered to pay highly and invited Teresa Teng to perform locally, and she had considered it, but later on due to the Tiananmen event, she had not considered it again.

◆Q5:What do you think was Teresa Teng's feelings about Lujhou?

      I once heard a friend of Teresa Teng tell me that:

      First, Lujhou was where her musical talent was cultivated. When she was young, she had practiced next to Tamshui River , at a place near the current water-extraction station. She also practiced in another place on Hsinyi road, with a band called Nine-Three Band, close to a monopoly bureau next to Lujhou Elementary School , which was an army band. There was a Teacher Lee in the band who taught Teresa Teng how to play the Huqin, and was her first music teacher. I am not sure of how much feelings Teresa Teng has on Lujhou, but I do know that it was where she started music.

      Second, after she became famous, she hardly returned to Lujhou. She left at about the age of 15~16 and did return to Lujhou until in her twenties to hold a concert here that was a great success. When she had emotional troubles outside she would also come back to chat with her friends in Lujhou. So she started with music here and would return for help if she encountered things she could not solve.

◆Q6:Do you have any future plans to establish a place to memorialize Teresa Teng? Or are there other ways?

      Teresa Teng's younger brother is called Chang- hsi Teng , and he had once discussed with the county government about establishing a Teresa Teng Memorial Hall, but no decision was every made. In Kuei-lin, there is a Sport's Recreation Park where a Teresa Teng Memorial Hall will be built.

      Teresa Teng is part of Lujhou's culture, so if Lujhou cannot construct a Teresa Teng Memorial Hall then it is hoped that the associated departments could establish a Teresa Teng Theme Park, which would be a place that incorporated Teresa Teng's former residence, her materials from Lujhou Elementary School and the places where she practiced singing, and a wall could be placed in this park to exhibit her records and photos, so that her fans could come for a visit and remember her.

◆Q1: How was Teresa Teng's family when she was young?

      Her father was a solider and times were hard for them. After he retired, they lived off selling cakes.

◆Q2: Did Teresa Teng have musical qualities when she was young?

      Yes, I was the Teaching Supervisor at the time when the school had hosted a fair, and was told by her teacher that she was a performer. On the day she performed on stage, she was truly spectacular and it was from then that I had discovered her talent in singing. Note: At the time Lujhou Elementary School had hosted sport's days and fairs on alternate years.

◆Q3: Was there anything different about Teresa Teng when she was younger?

      Teresa Teng did not speak much and was very well-behaved. At the time, she had a long ponytail, and once the student behind played a prank on her and tied her ponytail to the back of her chair, so when everyone stood up for break she pulled up the chair with her ponytail, but she was mild-mannered and was not angry with that student.

      When she was young, Teresa Teng also respected her parents, and helped her mom with housework.

◆Q4: Did she do anything when she was younger that had attracted attention?

      Since she was not yet popular, as a child no major event occurred at school. And even after she had won many awards in Japan the society still did not regard entertainers highly. But later on, after she died, magazine in Hong Kong began to report her past and started the waves of people who came to our school from across the world, due the fact that it became known that she had graduated from Lujhou Elementary School.

◆Q5: Did she have asthma from a young age? And if so then how did she manage to become a singer?

      I only knew about her asthma after she had died, since I was never aware of it when she was young. In fact, if you listen to her sing, her voice is gentle yet full of power, unlike that of an asthma patient.

◆Q6: Do you know how her singing talent was discovered?

      In the fair, she had taken up the position of the singer. In grade 4, she had sang, Huangmei Opera , which was popular at the time, very well, so her father later took her to sing for the air-force high artillery team. In grade 6 she also got first-place at a children's opera competition hosted by BCC Radio, and that was how she was discovered.

◆Q7: Did Teresa Teng make a big impression for you while you taught her?

      Yes. When Teresa Teng was in grade 4, I was instructing her on the “Patriotic Child”. I told her to cry when the Huqin start to play, and if she could not then she must wet around her eyes with saliva. But as soon as I started playing she immediately cried naturally, which made a great impression on me.

◆Q8: Did you keep in contact with her after she entered the entertainment industry?

      I kept very little contact with her because she was very busy at the time. She could not even come when her father passed away, that was how busy she was. Previously I would still meet her family in Lujhou, but it is also rare now.

◆Q9: Later on our research direction will be focused on investigating Teresa Teng's story in Lujhou, so can you offer us any suggestions or other research directions?

      I believe we can make her spirit to learn known. Teresa Teng was a very dedicated artist, when she became popular and began holding concerts in various areas she would learn to sing in the local language for her fans, for example she sang in Cantonese in Hong Kong and Japanese in Japan . She really worked hard.

◆Q10: Can Teresa Teng's relationship with Lujhou be further publicized?

      Yes. I recommend adding a Teresa Teng community bus and planning a cultural tour route in Lujhou that includes visits to sites such as Li's Mansion, the Mansion of Scholar etc., so that more people can visit Teresa Teng's former residence and Lujhou.

◆Q11: Do you think Teresa Teng's former residence should be renovated? And should it become a place to display her artefacts?

      I am very much in favor, she is an international star and known in many places, so if her home was preserved and filled with her artifacts for displaying to the public, then it will contribute locally. Since people often come to visit the historical sites in Lujhou, such as Li's Mansion, Jiujiu Tree and Cheng Cheng-gongs's Residence, thus if we also include Teresa Teng's sites and artifacts then it will be more memorable for the tourists.

◆Q12: When you were interviewed by other people, did you meet any fanatical fans of Teresa Teng or did anything amusing happen?

      In the past, artists in the entertainment industry were not highly regarded, unlike present day which had slowly changed due to the changed society. However, when she was performing for the army she was very popular to the soldiers, though they weren't as fanatical as the fan nowadays.

◆Q13: Do you know if Teresa Teng had set her goal to become a star from a young age, and how did it show?

      In fact, the person behind her success was her mother, since her mother saw that she was willing to work hard and had decided to teach her to sing. She was already good at performing in grade 1 and 2, and had fully shown her talent to entertain.

◆Q14: May we ask if you only started to notice her after she entered the entertainment industry? Or did she have memorable qualities while in elementary school?

      From a young age Teresa Teng had shown her talents for entertaining, though the people at the time did not regard entertainers highly and she usually did not mention Lujhou after she left. However, after her death, Hong Kong's media discovered that she had graduated from Lujhou Elementary School and then came to our school, with the hope to obtain some information on Teresa Teng and conduct a report, but it was refused by our principle.

◆Q15: If we wanted to incorporate Teresa Teng and Lujhou's industry, what would be your thought? And how do you think we should go about it?

      Like Mr. Lian-fu Yang. I would like people who like Teresa Teng to be able to see her things, by adding a Teresa Teng Memory Bus, and if there is no parking space then you can discuss with our school or the National Open University.

◆Q16: How do you think we can exercise her spirit?

      Since Teresa Teng was very poor when she was young, we can exercise her spirit of conservation, hard-working, focus and effort-making.

    The neighbor we interviewed had stayed near Teresa Teng's home, and she is also the owner of a bookstore close to the school. She said that Teresa Teng's family was a non-native family, so there were certain ethnic issues, also, since the non-natives hardly mingled with local people she did not know a lot about her.

      She said that Teresa Teng's family was poor and her father sold cakes for a living. They lived in a veterans' village built by the government and she was good at home, often helped her parents with work, but her appearance was average and did not stand out. In that era the trend in Taiwan was to hold talent competitions, and Lujhou had also often created a stage in front of Bao-an Temple , which Teresa Teng often entered, however due to the masses of people who were also eager participants, she did not appear to stand out. Although she was discovered by the record company afterwards and began with releasing records, and stopped schooling in middle school.

      The owner also said that Teresa Teng was not very health from a young age, probably due to there being many children at home, and their family was not rich so her nutrition was inadequate. After Teresa Teng left Lujhou she hardly returned, so the neighbors also only learnt about her from newspapers.