Teresa Teng

File:IMGP5908-鄧麗君出生地-褒忠鄉.jpg, Taiwan]]

File:Teresa Teng's first performance.png

Teng was born Teng Li-yun to waishengren parents in Baozhong, Yunlin County in Taiwan on 29 January 1953. Her father was a soldier in the Republic of China Armed Forces from Daming, Hebei, and her mother was from Dongping County, Shandong, who fled to Taiwan after communists took over mainland China in 1949.{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kerry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GbvBDwAAQBAJ&q=teresa+teng+luzhou+elementary+school&pg=PA412 |title=Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography Volume 4 |date=1 May 2015 |publisher=Berkshire Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-61472-900-6 |language=en |access-date=9 August 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173131/https://books.google.com/books?id=GbvBDwAAQBAJ&q=teresa+teng+luzhou+elementary+school&pg=PA412#v=snippet&q=teresa%20teng%20luzhou%20elementary%20school&f=false |url-status=live }}

The only daughter among five children, Teng was raised in a poverty-stricken Kuomintang family and spent her early childhood in military dependents' villages, first in Yunlin and then in Pingtung. Teng's father retired in 1957 and then worked selling cakes to make ends meet. Teng received her early education at Luzhou Elementary School in Luzhou, Taipei County, Taiwan.{{Cite web |title=Path_The Native Land |url=http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4640/teng5.html |access-date=15 June 2022 |website=library.taiwanschoolnet.org |archive-date=18 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918164130/http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4640/teng5.html |url-status=live }}

Teng was exposed to music at an early age through her music-loving parents. Her father was a Peking opera enthusiast, and her mother appreciated Huangmei opera, often accompanying Teng to Chinese movie theatres and opera houses. At the age of six, Teng began voice lessons through an acquaintance of her father, who instructed an Air Force band. Considering the environment of 1950s Taiwan under martial law, Teng's first mentor introduced her to singing before military audiences, a practice Teng continued throughout her life.{{Cite web |title=Prodigy of Taiwan, Diva of Asia: Teresa Teng |url=https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/prodigy-of-taiwan-diva-of-asia-teresa-teng/ |access-date=21 January 2023 |website=Association for Asian Studies |language=en-US |archive-date=4 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304133520/https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/prodigy-of-taiwan-diva-of-asia-teresa-teng/ |url-status=live }}

Teng earned her first major prize in 1964, when she sang "Visiting Yingtai" from Shaw Brothers' Huangmei opera movie, The Love Eterne, at an event hosted by the Broadcasting Corporation of China.{{Cite web |date=1 September 2015 |title=Icon for the Ages |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20&post=26511 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214152928/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20&post=26511 |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=23 July 2021 |work=Taiwan Today |publisher=Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs |language=en}} The following year, Teng went to attend Ginling Girls' High School in Sanchong, Taipei County, to further her studies. However, due to a conflict between her performance and studies, forced by family economic factors, Teng dropped out of school in the second year and pursued her career as a singer professionally. Teng was soon able to support her family with her singing.{{Cite web |title=Beautiful sight |url=http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4640/teng1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423072026/http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4640/teng1.html |archive-date=23 April 2010 |access-date=5 July 2022 |website=library.taiwanschoolnet.org}}

File:鄧麗君幼年時照片.jpg

Teng's professional career commenced in 1967 with her role as host of the television program One Star a Day. The show, which aired for 20 minutes, was broadcast from Tuesday to Sunday. She then appeared in television dramas and movies, including a leading role in the 1967 film Thank You, Manager.{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Lily Xiao Hong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22alDAAAQBAJ&q=biographical+dictionary+of+chinese+women+Twentieth+century+teresa+teng&pg=PA513 |title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 2: Twentieth Century |date=8 July 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-49924-6 |language=en |access-date=9 August 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173132/https://books.google.com/books?id=22alDAAAQBAJ&q=biographical+dictionary+of+chinese+women+Twentieth+century+teresa+teng&pg=PA513#v=snippet&q=biographical%20dictionary%20of%20chinese%20women%20Twentieth%20century%20teresa%20teng&f=false |url-status=live }} At the age of 14, Teng withdrew from school to focus on music. She signed with a local company, Yeu Jow Records, and began to release a series of long-playing albums of "a go-go" dance tunes and cover versions of Western pop songs as well as local Taiwanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian folk tunes. However, due to the lack of extra copyright royalties to increase her income, Teng committed to singing in nightclubs around Taiwan. She debuted at Paris Night, an upscale Taipei nightclub, and set a record for performing onstage there for 70 consecutive days, giving a 90-minute performance every single day.{{Cite web |last=Hongliang |first=Wang |date=27 April 2015 |title=邓丽君：漂泊者的荣耀与孤独 |trans-title=Teresa Teng: The Glory and Loneliness of the Wanderer |url=http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2015/0427/46019.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214165211/http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2015/0427/46019.shtml |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=15 June 2022 |website=Sanlian Life Weekly}}

Teng's albums sold well, and she eventually got an opportunity to record a theme song for Jingjing, Taiwan's first televised series. She then did a promotional tour that attracted attention in the media. Teng's first taste of fame came in 1968 when a performance on the popular Taiwanese music program The Gathering of Stars led to a record contract. She released several albums within the next few years under the Life Records label in Hong Kong.{{Cite book |last1=Tsai |first1=Eva |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6S-DwAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+chen+ching+cheng&pg=PT379 |title=Made in Taiwan: Studies in Popular Music |last2=Ho |first2=Tung-Hung |last3=Jian |first3=Miaoju |date=14 November 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-11912-2 |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173253/https://books.google.com/books?id=x6S-DwAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+chen+ching+cheng&pg=PT379#v=onepage&q=teresa%20teng%20chen%20ching%20cheng&f=false |url-status=live }} During these years, Teng recorded several top hits, such as "Remembering Mama" and "The Moment I See You, I Smile". She held concerts in Southeast Asia, drawing big crowds throughout the region.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=1 March 1982 |title=Teresa Teng: Asian Star |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214151428/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735 |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date= |website=Taiwan Today |language=en}} Teng's earnings from performing and recording eventually afforded her family a comfortable life; they moved from Luzhou District to Beitou District, Taipei, where they bought a home.{{Cite book |last=Schweig |first=Meredith |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmA4EAAAQBAJ&dq=Teresa+teng+most+influential+singer+across+Asia&pg=PT197 |title=Resounding Taiwan: Musical Reverberations Across a Vibrant Island |date=25 August 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-43121-6 |editor-last=Guy |editor-first=Nancy |pages=213–228 |language=en |chapter=Legacy, Agency, and the Voice(s) of Teresa Teng}}

By the 1970s, Teng's music style had changed; she fused pop and opera styles and incorporated Western jazz in order to further expand her market.{{Cite book |last=Pockrus |first=Jason |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1248502/m2/1/high_res_d/POCKRUS-DISSERTATION-2018.pdf |title=The Saxophone In China: Historical Performance And Development |publisher=University of North Texas |pages=150–152 |access-date=8 January 2023 |archive-date=8 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108105013/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1248502/m2/1/high_res_d/POCKRUS-DISSERTATION-2018.pdf |url-status=live }} Teng's popularity boomed in Asia after she released several albums in multiple languages.{{Cite web |date=6 May 2020 |title=Remembering 5 of Teresa Teng's songs, 25 years after her death |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3083112/5-teresa-tengs-songs-each-different-language-25-years |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214161748/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3083112/5-teresa-tengs-songs-each-different-language-25-years |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=4 October 2021 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}} In April 1979, Teng held her first concert in Vancouver, Canada.{{Cite book |last=Cheng |first=Chen-Ching |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1E5vwEACAAJ |title=Negotiating Deng Lijun: Collective Memories of Popular Music in Asia During the Cold War Period |date=2016 |publisher=University of Edinburgh |pages=54–56, 204–218, A39-A44 |language=en}} On her next trip, Teng toured major US cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1980, she was invited to perform at Lincoln Center in New York and the Los Angeles Music Center in California, becoming the first singer of Chinese descent to make a headline there.{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Lily Xiao Hong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmalDAAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng++los+angeles+music+center&pg=PT565 |title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 2: Twentieth Century |date=8 July 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-49923-9 |language=en}} Upon her return to Taiwan, Teng went on a Southeast Asian tour in 1981, drawing 35,000 attendees in Malaysia. She continued to hold large-scale concerts in Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian region almost every year. In 1983, Teng performed a series of concerts at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. They met with tremendous success. Teng gave many free concerts throughout most of her career to help the less fortunate or raise funds for charities. The funds collected from her concerts were donated to public welfare.{{Cite web |title=Concerts to pay tribute to Teresa Teng |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2005/07/11/concerts-to-pay-tribute-to-teresa-teng |access-date=25 June 2020 |work=The Star |location=Malaysia |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173659/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2005/07/11/concerts-to-pay-tribute-to-teresa-teng |url-status=live }}

For most of the previous three decades, China was both economically and culturally closed to the rest of the world. Around 1974, Teng's songs began to trickle into China with the availability of radios. In 1977, her song "The Moon Represents My Heart" became one of the earliest foreign songs to arrive in the mainland. In 1978, with economic reform and the opening of borders, cassette recorders and pirated recordings of Teng's songs began to flow from coastal cities to the rest of the country. Her popularity soon skyrocketed. In Taiwan, Teng's songs became a propaganda tool for the KMT's psychological war against the Chinese Communist Party. Her songs were blasted from the sea-facing speakers from Kinmen Island to the residents of mainland China. This propaganda practice continued throughout the 1980s.{{Cite web |author=Maggie Hiufu Wong |title=Tanks, propaganda and tourists: Welcome to Kinmen County, 'Taiwan's DMZ' |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/kinmen-travel-taiwan-china/index.html |access-date=10 June 2022 |website=CNN |date=3 March 2021 |language=en |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022038/https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/kinmen-travel-taiwan-china/index.html |url-status=live }}

In the early 1980s, continuing political tension between mainland China and Taiwan led to her music, along with that of other singers from Taiwan and Hong Kong, being banned for some years in mainland China, describing it as too "bourgeois" and "corrupt" by Chinese authorities. In spite of the ban, Teng's songs defied the censorship and penetrated China's iron curtain. Her popularity continued in China through cassettes sold on Black market, with fans paying up to a month's rent for pirated cassettes of her songs. Teng's songs continued to be played everywhere, from nightclubs to government buildings, and the ban was soon lifted. Teng became almost as well known in mainland China as the country's leader. Her fans nicknamed her "Little Deng" because she had the same family name as Deng Xiaoping; there was a saying that, by day, everyone listened to "old Deng" because they had to. At night, everyone listened to "Little Teng" because they wanted to.{{Cite magazine |date=3 August 2015 |title=The Melancholy Pop Idol Who Haunts China |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-melancholy-pop-idol-who-haunts-china |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214151808/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-melancholy-pop-idol-who-haunts-china |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=28 June 2021}} Shanghai Party newspaper Wenhui Bao expressed fears that Teng's songs may erode the revolutionary spirit of the (Communist) Chinese.{{Cite web |date=1 March 1982 |title=Teresa Teng: Asian Star |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214151428/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735 |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=24 March 2021 |website=Taiwan Today |publisher=Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs |language=en}} Faced with this solid wall of popularity, mainland China ceased its restrictions on her music from the mid-1980s onward.{{Cite web |title=Prodigy of Taiwan, Diva of Asia: Teresa Teng |url=https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/prodigy-of-taiwan-diva-of-asia-teresa-teng/ |access-date=10 June 2022 |website=Association for Asian Studies |language=en-US |archive-date=4 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304133520/https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/prodigy-of-taiwan-diva-of-asia-teresa-teng/ |url-status=live }}

File:Teresa Teng game.jpg

Teng's contract with Polydor ended in 1981, and she signed a contract with Taurus Records in 1983 and made a successful comeback appearance in Japan. That same year, Teng released her most critically acclaimed album, Dandan youqing, translated as Light Exquisite Feeling, which adapts 12 poems from the Tang and Song dynasties into music, blending modern and traditional styles. It became her first album to include entirely new songs, without any covers. The most popular single from the album is "Wishing We Last Forever".{{Cite book |last1=Fung |first1=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AXeDwAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+civil+war&pg=PT203 |title=Made in Hong Kong: Studies in Popular Music |last2=Chik |first2=Alice |date=19 April 2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-05608-2 |language=en |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173814/https://books.google.com/books?id=0AXeDwAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+civil+war&pg=PT203#v=onepage&q=teresa%20teng%20civil%20war&f=false |url-status=live }} Teng apparently felt a deep attachment to the mainland, as she immersed herself in the classics of the Tang and Song periods.{{Cite web |date=5 May 2015 |title=Teresa Teng's songs still resonate 20 years on |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Teresa-Teng-s-songs-still-resonate-20-years-on |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214145937/https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Teresa-Teng-s-songs-still-resonate-20-years-on |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=18 November 2020 |website=Nikkei Asia |language=en-GB}} In a television special, Teng spoke of her desire to contribute to the transmission of "Chinese" culture. Dressed in her period clothing, she commented:

I have one small desire. I hope everyone will like these songs, and will learn these songs so that the flourishing begonias within its [China's] ten million square kilometers and the treasures of this 5000-year-old culture can be handed down from generation to generation through song. And through song, I hope our posterity will never forget the happiness, sadness, and glory of being a "Chinese" person.{{Cite thesis|title=Singing Sinophone: a case study of Teresa Teng, Leehom Wang, and Jay Chou|url=https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2012-05-5869|date=May 2012|degree=thesis|first=Lorin Ann|last=Lee|access-date=24 December 2020|archive-date=21 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321061411/https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2012-05-5869|url-status=live}}

The album achieved widespread commercial success, selling over 5 million copies throughout Asia, making it the best-selling Chinese music album as of August 2008.{{Cite web |date=2015-06-10 |title=乐坛大震荡 郑东汉收购EMI大中华区 |trans-title=Zheng Donghan's acquisition of EMI Music shocks China |url=http://www.yn.xinhuanet.com/ent/2008-08/04/content_14015572_2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610201713/http://www.yn.xinhuanet.com/ent/2008-08/04/content_14015572_2.htm |archive-date=10 June 2015 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Xinhua News Agency}} It received a positive response from both the public and critics, commending Teng's outstanding interpretation of the ancient poems and successfully projecting classical Chinese literature into a contemporary popular music style. It was well accepted in Southeast Asia and went gold on the first day of its release in Hong Kong.{{Cite magazine |last=Abert |first=Hans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSQEAAAAMBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+billboard&pg=PT8 |title=Album Of Chinese Poems A Hit |date=19 February 1983 |magazine=Billboard |pages=9 |language=en |access-date=14 July 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173727/https://books.google.com/books?id=SSQEAAAAMBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+billboard&pg=PT8#v=onepage&q=teresa%20teng%20billboard&f=false |url-status=live }} Yang Yanxing, a professor at Tianjin Conservatory of Music, greatly praised the album, describing it as "the finest work of the Chinese music circle".{{Cite web |date=11 May 2010 |title=邓丽君逝世15周年祭：多名歌手翻唱其歌曲走红 |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2010-05-11/131720248249.shtml |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824133714/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2010-05-11/131720248249.shtml |archive-date=24 August 2021 |access-date=10 October 2021 |publisher=Sina Corp}} In March 2012, Pu Xiqian from the China News Service called the album a "perfect combination of poems and music".{{Cite web |title=神曲纷纷穿上"诗经"马甲 网友很开心专家斥恶搞-中新网 |url=http://www.chinanews.com/yl/2012/03-02/3714877.shtml |access-date=10 October 2021 |website=China News Service |archive-date=14 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914111916/http://www.chinanews.com/yl/2012/03-02/3714877.shtml |url-status=live }} Later, Teng started working on completing a sequel to the album. However, due to changes in the surroundings of music, as well as her deteriorating health and other reasons, she failed to realize her wish.{{Cite web |title="东方神韵"的化身_新闻中心_新浪网 |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2010-05-11/131720248249_2.shtml |access-date=8 February 2022 |publisher=Sina Corp |archive-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824124835/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2010-05-11/131720248249_2.shtml |url-status=live }}

File:Teresa Teng USA.pngIn 1987, Teng released the Mandarin version of the album I Only Care About You. After that, owing to her health issues, she basically stopped participating in commercial activities and gradually entered a semi-retired state.{{Cite web |date=19 February 2016 |title=Teresa Teng: An Asian Idol Loved in Japan |url=https://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00285/ |access-date=3 February 2022 |website=Nippon |language=en |archive-date=3 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903130652/https://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00285/ |url-status=live }} Teng performed in Paris during the 1989 Tiananmen student protests on behalf of the students and expressed her support. On 27 May 1989, over 300,000 people attended the Concert for Democracy in China ({{lang|zh-hant|民主歌聲獻中華}}) at the Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong. One of the highlights was her rendition of "My Home Is on the Other Side of the Mountain".{{Cite book |last=Cheng |first=Chen-Ching |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1E5vwEACAAJ |title=Negotiating Deng Lijun: Collective Memories of Popular Music in Asia During the Cold War Period |date=2016 |publisher=University of Edinburgh |pages=170 |language=en |access-date=17 December 2020 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173701/https://books.google.com/books?id=W1E5vwEACAAJ |url-status=live }}

Though Teng performed in many countries around the world, she never performed in mainland China. During her 1980 TTV concert, when asked about such a possibility, Teng responded by stating that the day she performs on the mainland will be the day the Three Principles of the People are implemented there—in reference to either the pursuit of Chinese democracy or reunification under the banner of the ROC.{{cite news|title = PHOTO ESSAYS Teresa Teng's heavenly voice continues to echo transcendently| website= focustaiwan.tw| publisher = Central News Agency (Taiwan)|date = 5 July 2015 |url = https://focustaiwan.tw/eng_forum/201505070001 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200529092651/https://focustaiwan.tw/eng_forum/201505070001|archive-date = 29 May 2020|url-status = deviated |access-date = 29 May 2020 |url-access=subscription}}

In 1975, Teng collaborated with Polydor Records of Hong Kong. Her album Island Love Songs: Goodbye My Love (1975) won her the Ten-Star Prize and the opportunity to star in a movie musical of her own. The album was awarded platinum at Hong Kong's first Golden Album Awards. In 1976, Teng held her first Hong Kong concert at Lee Theatre, which was a tremendous success. Teng continued performing in concerts for the next five years, attracting big crowds throughout this time. Two years later, Teng's albums Teresa Teng's Greatest Hits and Love Songs of the Island 3 won her second Golden Album Award. Teng released her first Cantonese album, Irreconcilable (勢不兩立) in 1980, which became the best-seller of the year; its single, "Forget Him", became one of the most famous Cantonese pop songs at that time. The album received platinum at the Golden Album Awards.

In 1982, her dual album of Teresa Teng's Concert Live became another platinum album after hitting the market. Teng became a household name in Hong Kong and held a concert at Queen Elizabeth Stadium the same year. Her second album, Strolling Down the Road of Life (漫步人生路), released in 1983, achieved even greater success than her predecessor. It became her fifth consecutive album to be awarded platinum, a record-breaking win among all singers in Hong Kong. Teng's popularity reached its peak by the end of 1983 with six straight sold-out concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. These concerts broke all sorts of Hong Kong records and played to a combined total audience of about 100,000 people. The concert, named A Billion Applause Concert, was performed in both Taiwan and Hong Kong from 29 December 1983 to 3 January 1984, in honor of her 15th year as a performer. A year later, Teng was awarded a special medal by PolyGram Hong Kong as a tribute to her success for having sold more than five million copies in Hong Kong.{{Cite web |last=Hongliang |first=Wang |date=27 April 2015 |title=邓丽君：漂泊者的荣耀与孤独 Teresa Teng: The Glory and Loneliness of the Wanderer |url=http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2015/0427/46019.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214165211/http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2015/0427/46019.shtml |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=25 July 2022 |website=Sanlian Life Weekly |language=Chinese}}

File:Teresa Teng US.jpg

Teng entered the Japanese market in 1973. On 1 March 1974, she released her debut Japanese single, No Matter Tonight or Tomorrow, marking the start of her career in Japan. Initially, the single received a lukewarm response, peaking at 75th on the Oricon Chart with sales of approximately 30,000. The Watanabe firm considered giving up using Teng's name. However, considering her success in Asia, the record company decided to release two or three consecutive singles to test the market further. On 1 July 1974, Teng's second single "Airport" was released. The sales of 'Airport' were huge, totaling 700,000 copies. She then released a number of successful singles, including "The Night Ferry" and "Goodbye, My Love". In 1979, Teng was caught with a fake Indonesian passport while entering Japan and was deported and banned from entering the country for one year.

After a long absence, Teng returned to the Japanese market on 21 September 1983 and released her first single "Tsugunai" (Atonement) after her comeback on 21 January 1984. The single did not receive a good response initially; however, after a month, sales started to pick up, and seven months later, "Tsugunai" eventually ranked eighth on the Oricon Chart and first on the Japan Cable Broadcasting Chart. By the end of the year, sales surpassed 700,000 copies, and final sales reached a million copies. Teng won the top award of 'Singer of the year' from Japan Cable Award. "Tsugunai" won the most popular song category and stayed on the Oricon Chart for nearly a year. The success broke all the sales records of her previous period (1974–79). On 21 February 1985, Teng's next single, "Aijin" (Lover) topped the Oricon Chart and Japan cable broadcasting request chart in the first week of its release. The song remained #1 for 14 consecutive weeks, and sales broke the 1.5 million mark. With "Aijin", Teng won the 'Singer of the Year' for the second time. Moreover, she was invited to perform in Kōhaku Uta Gassen, which represented a high honor that is restricted to the top performers of the year in the Japanese music world.

Teng's next single, "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" was released on 21 February 1986. The single topped both the Oricon and Japan Cable Broadcasting Chart, and sales of the single reached 2.5 million in the Asian market, becoming one of the most popular singles in Japan that year. Teng won the Japan Cable Award for the third time in a row. She was invited to perform in Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the second time. Teng became the first-ever artist to achieve three consecutive wins of this Grand Prix, also known as Japan Cable Award. She also remains the only foreign singer to win this award for three consecutive years in the history of Japanese music (1984–86). Teng gave her last solo concert at the NHK Hall in Tokyo in 1985 before semi-retiring from the entertainment circle.{{Cite web | title= テレサ・テン、最後のライブを完全リミックスでLP化 | trans-title= Teresa Teng makes LP of the last live performance with a complete remix | url= https://www.musicman.co.jp/artist/386524 | access-date= 25 August 2021 | website= 音楽業界総合情報サイト | date= 18 March 2021 | via= Musicman.co.jp | language= ja | archive-date= 25 August 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210825181855/https://www.musicman.co.jp/artist/386524 | url-status= live }}

One of Taiwan's most famous cultural exports,{{Cite magazine |date=3 August 2015 |title=The Melancholy Pop Idol Who Haunts China |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-melancholy-pop-idol-who-haunts-china |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522084506/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-melancholy-pop-idol-who-haunts-china |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Frater |first=Patrick |date=12 November 2018 |title=Teresa Teng, Legendary Singer, Series in the Works at Fox Asia |url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/asia/teresa-teng-series-in-the-works-at-fox-asia-1203025833/ |access-date=7 July 2022 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707123927/https://variety.com/2018/tv/asia/teresa-teng-series-in-the-works-at-fox-asia-1203025833/ |url-status=live }} Teng was born to a military family, her father served as a member of the Republic of China Armed Forces during World War II. After the regime collapsed on the mainland, the Nationalist government switched to Taiwan as its base after 1949. As a child, Teng grew up in this martial environment of the 1950s. Her first mentor introduced her to singing before military audiences, a practice she continued throughout her life. In those years, Teng gave many performances for soldiers and sang patriotic songs on television programs. In February 1979, while attempting to enter Japan, Teng was caught using a fake Indonesian passport she bought on the black market. The incident was criticized both in Taiwan and Japan. She was barred for one year from entering the country by Japan's Minister of Justice.

In 1980, a year after the incident, she was allowed to return to Taiwan on condition of cooperation with the Taiwanese government. Teng performed for the Taiwanese troops again, and the income from her performances was donated to the "Funds for Self-Improvement and Patriotism". In August 1981, Teng performed for the troops for one month, touring military sites all over Taiwan. She visited the generals of the army, navy, and air force and sang for them. These performances were broadcast on TTV's special program named Teresa Teng on the Frontline. Due to her vigorous devotion to soldiers in Taiwan, Teng was awarded the "Patriotic Entertainer" medal by the government information office. These frequent performances for the troops garnered her the nickname "the soldiers' sweetheart" by the media. In 1988, the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo marked the end of martial rule in Taiwan. In the early 1990s, Teng returned to entertain the troops again, with her last performance being in 1994.

Teng began charity performances at a very young age. One of her first performances came on 17 August 1968, when she sang at the charity fair in Zhongshan Hall in Taipei, for the relief of the earthquake in the Philippines. The charity sale was donated on the spot. The following year, Teng was invited by the wife of the then-President of Singapore Yusof Ishak to a charity performance at the Singapore National Opera House. That same year, Teng performed at the Ten-Star Charity Performance, held by the Singaporean authorities. In 1971, she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the title of the "Charity Queen" of Hong Kong's Bai Hua You Arts Auction for making charity sales.{{Cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Lily Xiao Hong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC&pg=PA513 |title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women |last2=Stefanowska |first2=A. D. |last3=Wiles |first3=Sue |date=1998 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-0798-0 |language=en |access-date=29 July 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173701/https://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC&pg=PA513#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} On 8 June 1973, Teng participated in the "Far East Top Ten Stars Charity Gala" in Singapore, gave four performances, and raised $400,000 to be used as scholarships for students in need.

Teng continued performing for philanthropic causes throughout the 1970s in Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In 1980, she raised over $1 million USD for Yan Chai Hospital in Hong Kong and donated the proceeds of her show in Taiwan to that country's national trust fund. In January 1982, Teng held a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong, and the first proceeds were used for charitable donations; in August, she donated NT$160,000 to build a water tower in a village in northern Thailand and introduce a drinking water system. In 1985, Teng held a solo concert at the NHK Hall in Tokyo, Japan, the proceeds of which were donated to charity. She made a special trip to Hong Kong in July 1991 to participate in the disaster relief program of ATV's "Love for East China" as a special charity performance guest to raise funds. Teng gave her last performance in 1994 in Taiwan, a year before her sudden and unexpected death.{{Cite book |last=Cheng |first=Chen-Ching |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1E5vwEACAAJ |title=Negotiating Deng Lijun: Collective Memories of Popular Music in Asia During the Cold War Period |date=2016 |publisher=University of Edinburgh |pages= |language=en |access-date=17 December 2020 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173701/https://books.google.com/books?id=W1E5vwEACAAJ |url-status=live }}

File:Teresa Teng LA2.jpg for a short break before her concert in New York (1980)]]

Teng credits Chinese folk songs and music as a major influence on her musical career, which she often grew up listening to.{{Cite news |last=Wren |first=Christopher S. |date=30 January 1984 |title=MUSIC TO MAINLAND EARS, OFF-KEY TO PEKING CHIEFS |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/30/world/music-to-mainland-ears-off-key-to-peking-chiefs.html |access-date=3 January 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=3 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103144309/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/30/world/music-to-mainland-ears-off-key-to-peking-chiefs.html |url-status=live }} As a young child, Teng was exposed to music by her music-loving parents. Teng learned Peking opera through her father, while her mother introduced her to Huangmei opera, accompanying her to opera houses and encouraging Teng to sing in that style by purchasing songbooks for her. Alongside regional and folk styles, Teng was also influenced by shidaiqu and Japanese music.{{Cite book |last=Schweig |first=Meredith |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmA4EAAAQBAJ&dq=Teresa+teng+most+influential+singer+across+Asia&pg=PT197 |title=Resounding Taiwan: Musical Reverberations Across a Vibrant Island |date=25 August 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-43121-6 |editor-last=Guy |editor-first=Nancy |pages=213–228 |language=en |chapter=Legacy, Agency, and the Voice(s) of Teresa Teng |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173814/https://books.google.com/books?id=SmA4EAAAQBAJ&dq=Teresa+teng+most+influential+singer+across+Asia&pg=PT197#v=onepage&q=Teresa%20teng%20most%20influential%20singer%20across%20Asia&f=false |archive-date=29 January 2024 |url-status=live}} In addition to music, Teng was an admirer of Florence Nightingale, Xi Shi, and Lin Daiyu.{{Cite web |title=何日君再来——邓丽君十年祭(组图)_新闻中心_新浪网 |trans-title=When will Mr. Teresa come again - Ten Years Ceremony of Teresa Teng |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2005-05-08/14145830818s.shtml |access-date=27 May 2023 |website=news.sina.com.cn |archive-date=27 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527121616/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2005-05-08/14145830818s.shtml |url-status=live }}

Teng was a Soprano, according to The New York Times.{{Cite news |last=Wren |first=Christopher S. |date=30 January 1984 |title=MUSIC TO MAINLAND EARS, OFF-KEY TO PEKING CHIEFS |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/30/world/music-to-mainland-ears-off-key-to-peking-chiefs.html |access-date=21 January 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=3 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103144309/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/30/world/music-to-mainland-ears-off-key-to-peking-chiefs.html |url-status=live }} She possessed more than 3-octave vocal range: C3 (LowC) ~ E6 (HiE){{Cite web |date=2019-01-22 |title=唱功分级里为什么邓丽君总是评分最高的? |trans-title=Why is Teresa Teng always rated the highest when it comes to singing skills? |url=https://www.163.com/dy/article/E65581H50514ELJT.html |website=NetEase}} and was known for her "soothing and crystalline" singing voice,{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=1 March 1982 |title=Teresa Teng: Asian Star |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735 |access-date=21 January 2023 |website=Taiwan Today |language=en |archive-date=14 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214151428/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=8 October 2010 |title=Life and works of Teresa Teng to be showcased at expo – Taipei Times |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/10/08/2003484864 |access-date=21 January 2023 |website=Taipei Times |archive-date=21 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121122410/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/10/08/2003484864 |url-status=live }} with her vocal trademark classified as a "quasi-whisper", which David B. Gordon characterizes as a "private emotion" in her listeners—as though she were singing for each of them individually. Examining her vocal abilities, NetEase Entertainment praised Teng's soft voice style in the high range, describing her ability to "sing the high notes from C5 to G5 with the strength and timbre of her natural voice." It also commended Teng's breath control and her command of an array of genres.{{Cite web |date=2019-01-22 |title=唱功分级里为什么邓丽君总是评分最高的？ |trans-title=Why is Teresa Teng always rated the highest when it comes to singing skills? |url=https://www.163.com/dy/article/E65581H50514ELJT.html |website=NetEase}} Wang Yueyang from Sina News commented that "Teng's voice is very distinctive, soft, and soothing," stating that "you can't hear her breathing and she can sing continuous high notes without nasal sounds."{{Cite web |title=永远的邓丽君 |trans-title=Forever Teresa Teng |url=https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2007-10-17/120414106203.shtml |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=Sina News}} Cultural critic Rey Chow has labelled Teng's voice as soft, throaty, and feminine,{{Cite book |last=Chow |first=Rey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pC36TmZmHw0C&pg=PA111 |title=Sentimental Fabulations, Contemporary Chinese Films: Attachment in the Age of Global Visibility |date=27 March 2007 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50819-3 |pages=111 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425064605/https://books.google.com/books?id=pC36TmZmHw0C&pg=PA111 |url-status=live }} whereas Mike Levin of Billboard described her voice as "soft and almost breathless". Teng's voice covered a diverse range of musical styles and languages.{{Cite web |date=2010-10-08 |title=Life and works of Teresa Teng to be showcased at expo - Taipei Times |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/10/08/2003484864 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527085451/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/10/08/2003484864 |archive-date=2024-05-27 |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=Taipei Times}} Meredith Schweig at Emory University notes that "Teng was famously versatile: she performed confidently in multiple languages and seamlessly blended haipai, enka, and Euro-American pop stylings in dozens of hit records," and that Teng's "voice and physical appearance were venerated as the apotheosis of feminine beauty and virtue."{{Cite book |last=Schweig |first=Meredith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v6p5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |title=Renegade Rhymes: Rap Music, Narrative, and Knowledge in Taiwan |date=7 September 2022 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-82058-3 |pages=43, 73 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425064601/https://books.google.com/books?id=v6p5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |url-status=live}}

In 1987, Teng recorded the song "Summer Christmas", a cover of the Japanese song "Merry X'mas in Summer", originally recorded by Kuwata Band member Yoshisuke Kuwata. The same year, Teng recorded "River of Destiny", a cover of the Japanese original "Sadame Gawa". She composed the lyrics of both songs in Mandarin and included them on her 1987 Mandarin album, I Only Care About You.{{Citation |title=夏日聖誕 – Album Version |url=https://www.kkbox.com/tw/tc/song/XXZWffWoN4kbr8JUYs |work=kkbox.com |language=zh-hant |access-date=26 January 2023 |archive-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126090824/https://www.kkbox.com/tw/tc/song/XXZWffWoN4kbr8JUYs |url-status=live }}{{Citation |title=命運之川 |url=https://www.kkbox.com/tw/tc/song/SsCPuSa_DXYxbrvJuh |work=kkbox.com |language=zh-hant |access-date=26 January 2023 |archive-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126090826/https://www.kkbox.com/tw/tc/song/SsCPuSa_DXYxbrvJuh |url-status=live }} In 1988, Teng wrote the lyrics for the song "We Are the Stars" in both Chinese and Japanese versions and sang it on stage with Japanese musician Yūzō Kayama on 29 October. In 1992, Teng penned the lyrics for what was later revised into a song, "Star's Wish", after she died.{{Cite web |title=Relive Teresa Teng magic at newly opened memorial hall – China.org.cn |url=http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2010-12/31/content_21653864.htm |access-date=26 January 2023 |website=www.china.org.cn |archive-date=7 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807022856/http://china.org.cn/arts/2010-12/31/content_21653864.htm |url-status=live }}

File:Wongwt 筠園 (16609020913).jpg

On 8 May 1995, Teng died suddenly and unexpectedly while on holiday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at the age of 42. Several sources reported a severe asthma attack as the cause of her death; however, Thai doctors attributed Teng's death to heart failure, but no autopsy was performed. Teng had complained of having respiratory difficulties since the beginning of the year.{{cite news |last=Wudunn |first=Sheryl |date=10 May 1995 |title=Teresa Teng, Singer, 40, Dies; Famed in Asia for Love Songs |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDA1339F933A25756C0A963958260 |access-date= |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190918205758/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/10/obituaries/teresa-teng-singer-40-dies-famed-in-asia-for-love-songs.html |archivedate=18 September 2019}} According to some witnesses, she was accompanied by her fiancé Paul Quilery, who was off scene when the attack occurred. The cause of death was never confirmed, as both Teng and Quilery's families declined to allow an autopsy. Later, the case was closed by the police due to a lack of evidence.{{Cite web |date=8 May 2018 |title=Ngày này năm xưa: Bí ẩn vụ "đệ nhất danh ca châu Á" đột tử |trans-title=This day in the past: The mystery of the sudden death of 'Asia's first famous singer' |url=https://vietnamnet.vn/vn/the-gioi/ho-so/ngay-nay-nam-xua-bi-an-vu-de-nhat-danh-ca-chau-a-dot-tu-449653.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214144003/https://vietnamnet.vn/ngay-nay-nam-xua-bi-an-vu-de-nhat-danh-ca-chau-a-dot-tu-449653.html |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date= |website=VietNamNet |language=Vietnamese}}

File:鄧麗君墓園足奏鋼琴 Pedal Piano at Teresa Deng's Ceremony - panoramio.jpg piano at Teresa Teng's Memorial Park]]

Billboard stated that Teng's death "produced a unified sense of loss throughout all of Asia".{{Cite magazine |last=Levin |first=Mike |date=20 May 1995 |title=Death Of Teresa Teng Saddens All Of Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AsEAAAAMBAJ&q=Teresa+Teng+22+million+billboard&pg=PA3 |magazine=Billboard |language=en |pages=3, 110 |access-date=3 November 2020 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173210/https://books.google.com/books?id=2AsEAAAAMBAJ&q=Teresa+Teng+22+million+billboard&pg=PA3#v=snippet&q=Teresa%20Teng%2022%20million%20billboard&f=false |url-status=live }} Her funeral in Taiwan became the largest state-sponsored funeral in the island's history, second only to that of ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek. Over 200,000 people lined up outside the funeral home, waiting to bid their last farewells to Teng, causing traffic in Taipei to come to a standstill. Her funeral was broadcast on television stations across many Asian countries, while radio stations in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong devoted their entire programming schedules to her music for two days.

Teng was given state honors at her funeral, with Taiwan's flag draped around her coffin. Hundreds of high-ranking officials and dignitaries, including commanders from three branches of the military, attended the funeral and accompanied Teng's coffin to her grave. A day of national mourning was declared and President Lee Teng-hui was among the thousands in attendance.{{Cite web |title=Taiwan bids farewell to Teresa Teng |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/05/28/Taiwan-bids-farewell-to-Teresa-Teng/3254801633600/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225081257/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/05/28/Taiwan-bids-farewell-to-Teresa-Teng/3254801633600/ |archive-date=25 December 2019 |access-date=25 December 2019 |work=United Press International}} Teng was posthumously awarded the Ministry of Defense's highest honor for civilians, the KMT's "Hua-hsia Grade One Medal", the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission's "Hua Guang Grade One Medal", and the president's commendation.{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Lily Xiao Hong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmalDAAAQBAJ&q=Teresa+Teng+Taiwan%27s+flag&pg=PT565 |title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 2: Twentieth Century |date=8 July 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-49923-9 |access-date=3 November 2020 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173703/https://books.google.com/books?id=tmalDAAAQBAJ&q=Teresa+Teng+Taiwan%27s+flag&pg=PT565#v=onepage&q=Teresa%20Teng%20Taiwan's%20flag&f=false |url-status=live }} Teng was buried in a mountainside tomb at Chin Pao San, a cemetery in Jinshan, New Taipei City (then Taipei County) overlooking the north coast of Taiwan.{{Cite web |title=Google Doodle pays homage to Teresa Teng |url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2018/01/29/google-doodle-pays-homage-to-teresa-teng.html |access-date=9 November 2021 |website=The Jakarta Post |language=en |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173703/https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2018/01/29/google-doodle-pays-homage-to-teresa-teng.html |url-status=live }}

According to Teng's maiden name character, Yun, the grave was named "Yun Yuan".{{Cite web |last=Area |first=North Coast & Guanyinshan National Scenic |date=13 February 2009 |title=North Coast & Guanyinshan National Scenic Area |url=https://www.northguan-nsa.gov.tw/user/article.aspx?Lang=2&SNo=04002750 |access-date=7 July 2022 |website=North Coast & Guanyinshan National Scenic Area |language=English |archive-date=5 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705000741/https://www.northguan-nsa.gov.tw/user/article.aspx?lang=2&sno=04002750 |url-status=live }} The gravesite features a golden-colored, life-size statue of her, and a large electronic piano keyboard set in the ground that can be played by visitors who step on the keys. On the tombstone, the head of Teng is carved. The coffin lid behind the tombstone is polished with black marble. Behind the coffin lid is a stone sculpture. The upper half is a lying portrait of the singer, and the right side of the lower half is inlaid with a color photo of her, with the words "Deng Lijun, 1953–1995" written on the left side. On the right side of the coffin lid, there is a huge stone with the words "Yunyuan" inscribed by James Soong, Governor of Taiwan Province. On the left side of the coffin lid, there is a stone stele on which is engraved with the epitaph: "Here lies a superstar who dedicated her life to singing." The memorial is often visited by Teng's fans.

In May 1995, Shanghai Radio host Dalù dedicated the Sunday morning broadcast to the Taiwanese singer, who had died a few days earlier. Spreading her songs was banned in mainland China and the journalist was formally warned for this act.{{Cite web |title=Interview: Chinese journalist Dalù and his escape to Italy |url=http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/9267 |access-date=19 June 2020 |website=Italian Insider |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173822/https://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/9267 |url-status=live }} In 1995, a tribute album, A Tribute to Teresa Teng, was released, which contained covers of Teng's songs by prominent Chinese rock bands.{{Cite book |last=Ellingham |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzX8THIgRjUC&q=teresa+teng+tribute+to+teresa+teng+by+chinese+rock+bands&pg=PA55 |title=The Rough Guide to World Music |date=1999 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1-85828-636-5 |language=en |access-date=9 August 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173705/https://books.google.com/books?id=QzX8THIgRjUC&q=teresa+teng+tribute+to+teresa+teng+by+chinese+rock+bands&pg=PA55#v=snippet&q=teresa%20teng%20tribute%20to%20teresa%20teng%20by%20chinese%20rock%20bands&f=false |url-status=live }} In May 2002, a wax figure of Teng was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong. A house she bought in 1986 in Hong Kong at number 18 Carmel Street, Stanley, also became a popular fan site soon after her death. Plans to sell the home to finance a museum in Shanghai were made known in 2002,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2159548.stm Taiwanese diva's home 'for sale'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129081717/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2159548.stm|date=29 January 2018}}. BBC News, 29 July 2002. Retrieved 2 January 2007. and it was subsequently sold for HK $32 million. It closed on what would have been her 51st birthday on 29 January 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.hkvpradio.com/newsletters/2004december.html |title=A Retrospective Look at 2004 |access-date=27 February 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227001327/http://www.hkvpradio.com/newsletters/2004december.html |archive-date=27 February 2008 }}. HKVP Radio, Dec 2004. Retrieved 2 January 2007.

{{Quote box

| quoted = true

| bgcolor = #ffeeaa

| salign = right

| width = 250px

| align = right

| quote = Her peculiarity lie in the fact that the different cultural trajectories developed by the special political background of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait merged two different trajectories in a specific time and space dislocation, so she became the favorite of many people in that era. It would not have been possible without controversy. Today, it seems that this was normal at the time. After all, it is impossible to fully accept a cultural phenomenon like Teresa Teng with the general values and consciousness of the people at that time.

| source = —Wang Xiaofeng, Sanlian Lifeweek{{cite web |work=Sanlian Life Weekly |title=邓丽君和我们的一个时代_三联生活周刊 |trans-title=Teresa Teng and one of our times |url=http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2005/0513/11859.shtml |first=Wang |last=Xiaofeng |access-date=28 May 2022 |language=zh |archive-date=14 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214160326/http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2005/0513/11859.shtml |url-status=live }}

}}

Throughout her 30-year career and up to this point, Teng has been recognized as one of the most celebrated and influential figures in Asian music and popular culture,{{Cite news |last=Hernández |first=Javier C. |date=21 January 2019 |title=In the Heart of Beijing, a Taiwanese Pop Idol Makes Fans Swoon |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/world/asia/teresa-teng-china-beijing-taiwan.html |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214143341/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/world/asia/teresa-teng-china-beijing-taiwan.html |archive-date=14 February 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |quote=}}{{Cite book |last1=Chu |first1=Katherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6kGEAAAQBAJ&dq=britannica+academic+Teresa+Teng&pg=PA251 |title=Singing in Mandarin: A Guide to Chinese Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire |last2=Petrus |first2=Juliet |date=30 November 2020 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-3143-5 |pages=251 |language=en |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173706/https://books.google.com/books?id=e6kGEAAAQBAJ&dq=britannica+academic+Teresa+Teng&pg=PA251#v=onepage&q=britannica%20academic%20Teresa%20Teng&f=false |url-status=live }} considering her deep impact on the whole of Chinese society, with an influence extending beyond music to include both political and cultural spheres, while her Asia-wide reach is largely attributed to her multi-lingual abilities, which established her as an icon in all of Asia, heralding the era of region-wide pop superstardom that has become today's norm.{{Cite magazine |last=Hsu |first=Hua |date=3 August 2015 |title=The Melancholy Pop Idol Who Haunts China |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-melancholy-pop-idol-who-haunts-china |magazine=The New Yorker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214151808/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-melancholy-pop-idol-who-haunts-china |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=12 November 2020}}{{Cite web |title=Prodigy of Taiwan, Diva of Asia: Teresa Teng |url=https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/prodigy-of-taiwan-diva-of-asia-teresa-teng/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173135/https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/prodigy-of-taiwan-diva-of-asia-teresa-teng/ |archive-date=29 January 2024 |access-date=20 April 2023 |website=Association for Asian Studies |language=en-US}}

File:Plaque Rue Teresa Teng - Ivry-sur-Seine (FR94) - 2023-02-05 - 2.jpg, Grand Paris, France]]

Teng emerged as one of the biggest singers in the world in her heyday of the 1970s and 1980s,{{Cite web |date=6 October 2013 |title=Looking and sounding like Teresa Teng |url=https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/looking-and-sounding-teresa-teng |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214152428/https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/looking-and-sounding-teresa-teng |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=28 September 2021 |website=AsiaOne |language=en}} with many considering her the most famous Asian popstar of her time.{{Cite web |last=General |first=Ryan |date=2018-01-30 |title=One of Most Famous Chinese Singers in History Was Also Banned in China |url=https://nextshark.com/teresa-teng-taiwanese-singer/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313093349/https://nextshark.com/teresa-teng-taiwanese-singer |archive-date=13 March 2024 |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=NextShark |language=en}} Teng's profound influence on Asian popular music and the Chinese cultural sphere throughout the latter half of the 20th century and beyond led to her being recognized as the Far East's first pop superstar.{{Cite book |last=Pieke |first=Frank N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUAwEAAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+most+influential+asian+singers+of+all+time&pg=PA36 |title=Global East Asia: Into the Twenty-First Century |date=3 August 2021 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-97142-4 |pages=36 |language=en |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173129/https://books.google.com/books?id=wUAwEAAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+most+influential+asian+singers+of+all+time&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q=teresa%20teng%20most%20influential%20asian%20singers%20of%20all%20time&f=false |archive-date=29 January 2024 |url-status=live}} She is credited by some as an enlightener and a pioneer of Chinese vocal performance art and modern popular music, opening up the performance paths of modern Chinese pop singers and enlightening the artistic dreams of many later musicians and cultural people.{{Cite magazine |last=Levin |first=Mike |date=20 May 1995 |title=Death Of Teresa Teng Saddens All Of Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AsEAAAAMBAJ&q=Teresa+Teng+22+million+billboard&pg=PA3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173210/https://books.google.com/books?id=2AsEAAAAMBAJ&q=Teresa+Teng+22+million+billboard&pg=PA3#v=snippet&q=Teresa%20Teng%2022%20million%20billboard&f=false |archive-date=29 January 2024 |access-date=3 November 2020 |magazine=Billboard |pages=3 |language=en |quote=Born in Taiwan to mainland Chinese parents, Teng is considered the archetype of modern Chinese pop music}}{{Cite web |title=The Pioneer of the Enlightenment of Modern Pop Music in Greater China–Teng Lijun's Vocal Art Features and Its Influence |url=https://www.ixueshu.com/document/8177d3520260c551d0f959b30c69438b318947a18e7f9386.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825181855/https://www.ixueshu.com/document/8177d3520260c551d0f959b30c69438b318947a18e7f9386.html |archive-date=25 August 2021 |access-date=20 September 2021 |website=Journal of Hubei University of Science and Technology}}{{Cite web |title=The Enlightenment and Pioneer of Chinese Vocal Music Performance Art—An Analysis of the Success of Teresa Teng's Vocal Music Performance Art |url=https://www.ixueshu.com/document/214c9856c4611007adb91490292bc6b4318947a18e7f9386.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215092117/https://www.ixueshu.com/document/214c9856c4611007adb91490292bc6b4318947a18e7f9386.html |archive-date=15 December 2022 |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=Jiangsu Ocean University}}

Numerous musical and non-musical figures have been influenced by Teng. These include singer Faye Wong, Jay Chou, Jane Zhang, Kazukiyo Nishikiori of Japanese pop group Shonentai, Tetsuya Murakami of The Gospellers, Junko Akimoto, Rimi Natsukawa, "father" of Chinese rock Cui Jian, Romanian singer Cristina Boboacă,Sources:

• {{Cite web |last=China (Taiwan) |first=Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of |date=1 September 2015 |title=Icon for the Ages |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20&post=26511 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214152928/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20&post=26511 |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=Taiwan Today |language=en }}
• {{Cite web |date=29 January 2013 |title=张靓颖纪念邓丽君60周年冥诞:我们深深在乎你-中新网 |url=https://www.chinanews.com.cn/yl/2013/01-29/4531245.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214153900/https://www.chinanews.com.cn/yl/2013/01-29/4531245.shtml |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=China News Service }}
• {{Cite web |date=18 May 2012 |title=錦織一清、テレサ・テン記念作演出に感激「雲の上の存在で憧れの方」 |url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2011759/full/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214155613/https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2011759/full/ |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=ORICON NEWS }}
• {{Cite web |last= |first= |date=9 April 2010 |title=夏川、BEGIN、ゴス村上がテレサ・テンと奇跡のデュエット |url=https://natalie.mu/music/news/30334 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214153535/https://natalie.mu/music/news/30334 |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=8 July 2022 |website=Music Natalie |language=ja }}
• {{Cite book |last1=Leffman |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dA_QbQiZkB4C&dq=cui+jian+beatles+rolling+stone+teresa+teng&pg=PA1236 |title=China |last2=Lewis |first2=Simon |last3=Atiyah |first3=Jeremy |date=2003 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1-84353-019-0 |pages=1236 |language=en |access-date=14 July 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173733/https://books.google.com/books?id=dA_QbQiZkB4C&dq=cui+jian+beatles+rolling+stone+teresa+teng&pg=PA1236#v=onepage&q=cui%20jian%20beatles%20rolling%20stone%20teresa%20teng&f=false |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite web |last=Macovei |first=Denisa |date=27 February 2017 |title=EXCLUSIV. Incredibila poveste a româncei care face senzație în China! "Adoptată" de părinții idolului ei după ce a fost obligată să-și schimbe numele |url=https://www.libertatea.ro/entertainment/exclusiv-cristina-boboaca-teresa-tina-china-1757845 |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=Libertatea |language=ro |archive-date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110090745/https://www.libertatea.ro/entertainment/exclusiv-cristina-boboaca-teresa-tina-china-1757845 |url-status=live }} fashion designer Vivienne Tam, Nobel Prize laureate and writer Liu Xiaobo, poet and writer Xu Pei, manga artist Kenshi Hirokane, filmmaker Jia Zhangke, as well as painter and sculptor Jian Guo,Sources:
• {{Cite news |date=13 July 2017 |title=Liu Xiaobo, Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace laureate, 1955–2017 |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/01353b20-5b02-11e7-9bc8-8055f264aa8b |url-access=subscription |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/01353b20-5b02-11e7-9bc8-8055f264aa8b |archive-date=10 December 2022 }}
• {{Cite book |last1=Liu |first1=Xiaobo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfXcwY2NdD0C&dq=teresa+teng+humanity+was+so+suppressed+back+then&pg=PA40 |title=No Enemies, No Hatred |last2=Link |first2=E. Perry |last3=Martin-Liao |first3=Tienchi |date=16 January 2012 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-07194-0 |pages=40 |language=en |access-date=14 July 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173707/https://books.google.com/books?id=hfXcwY2NdD0C&dq=teresa+teng+humanity+was+so+suppressed+back+then&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q=teresa%20teng%20humanity%20was%20so%20suppressed%20back%20then&f=false |url-status=live }}*
• {{Cite web |last=Pei |first=Xu |title=邓丽君的"中国梦" {{!}} 徐沛文集 |trans-title=Teresa Teng's "Chinese Dream" |url=http://xu-pei.hxwk.org/2013/09/29/%e9%82%93%e4%b8%bd%e5%90%9b%e7%9a%84%e4%b8%ad%e5%9b%bd%e6%a2%a6/ |access-date=6 September 2022 |website=China News Digest |language=zh-CN }}
• {{Cite web |date=16 May 2013 |title=「テレサ・テンを歌ってみたコンテスト」、ニコ動でスタート！～課題曲は「つぐない」「愛人」「時の流れに身をまかせ」6/30〆 |url=http://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000900.000000664.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214154147/https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000900.000000664.html |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=プレスリリース・ニュースリリース配信シェアNo.1｜PR TIMES }}
• {{Cite news |date=25 October 2016 |title=When cinema imitates life |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/When-cinema-imitates-life/article16082307.ece |access-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214154516/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/When-cinema-imitates-life/article16082307.ece |archive-date=14 February 2023 |issn=0971-751X }}
• {{Cite news |date=3 December 2021 |title=The song on Radio Australia that changed former Chinese soldier Jian Guo's life |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-04/former-chinese-soldier-jian-guo-radio-australia-teresa-teng/100664158 |access-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214154842/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-04/former-chinese-soldier-jian-guo-radio-australia-teresa-teng/100664158 |archive-date=14 February 2023 }}
• {{Cite web |date=4 April 2017 |title=How Hong Kong inspired Vivienne Tam's latest fashion collection |url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/2084346/vivienne-tam-how-hometown-hong-kong-cityscape-inspired-her |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214155237/https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/2084346/vivienne-tam-how-hometown-hong-kong-cityscape-inspired-her |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en }} among others.

Prior to the 1980s, foreign music and art were largely prohibited in mainland China for nearly three decades. Love songs were almost non-existent, with the majority of music stemming from politics or red songs, which heavily dominated the country's cultural domain. They were commonly revolutionary model operas promoting the ideals of the party and military. Jin Zhaojun, a prominent Chinese music critic, characterized the music of this period as "overly masculine and lacking femininity," in which people were denied a whole range of basic human desires and modes of expression. Teng's music, in this contrast, broke new ground in terms of style and content. She blended traditional Chinese folk music with Western pop and jazz, opening the doors to the musical creations of later generations.{{Cite book |last=Baranovitch |first=Nimrod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJ_lqBQLIVIC&pg=PA10 |title=China's New Voices: Popular Music, Ethnicity, Gender, and Politics, 1978–1997 |date=1 August 2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93653-9 |pages=10–13 |language=en |access-date=3 November 2020 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173732/https://books.google.com/books?id=qJ_lqBQLIVIC&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Peddie |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=avjCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 |title=The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music and Social Class |date=6 February 2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-5013-4538-8 |pages=165 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425064602/https://books.google.com/books?id=avjCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 |url-status=live }} Musicians began to study the new forms of music that entered the mainland through foreign cassettes and tape recorders, such as orchestration and singing style. She became the earliest guide for composers on how to arrange music for popular songs, and numerous musicians reproduced their work by imitating her.{{Cite web |date=13 May 2005 |title=邓丽君和我们的一个时代_三联生活周刊 |trans-title=Teresa Teng and one of our times |url=http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2005/0513/11859.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214160326/http://old.lifeweek.com.cn//2005/0513/11859.shtml |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=Sanlian Life Weekly}} An important piece of testimony to this is the use of saxophone introduced by Teng. Her frequent use of jazz or jazz-influenced ensembles in her music set the standard for saxophone performance practice in mainland pop today.{{Cite book |last=Pockrus |first=Jason |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1248502/m2/1/high_res_d/POCKRUS-DISSERTATION-2018.pdf |title=The Saxophone In China: Historical Performance And Development |publisher=University of North Texas |pages=150–152 |access-date=8 January 2023 |archive-date=8 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108105013/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1248502/m2/1/high_res_d/POCKRUS-DISSERTATION-2018.pdf |url-status=live }} Another aspect of Teng's influence was the establishment of a "breath singing method". Jin pointed out that, before this, alongside more authentic folk singing, the Chinese also had a "national singing" between bel canto and folk singing. Teng taught that people could also sing with another part of their voice, which was later named "popular singing".

Teng's songs were centered on a range of subjects, most primarily love and human relations—the most lacking elements in mainland culture at the time. By the early 1970s, as rates of radio ownership began to increase, especially of cheap and portable transistor models, listening to Teng's music rose in popularity. Author Ah Cheng recalled hearing her music for the first time in 1975 as a sort of excitement and extreme addiction that he and his friends would press their ears to the wooden frame of a shortwave radio only to get her voice heard.{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Andrew F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsvUDwAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+hong+kong+broke+her+previous+record&pg=PP211 |title=Circuit Listening: Chinese Popular Music in the Global 1960s |date=17 March 2020 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-1-4529-6326-6 |language=en |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129174712/https://books.google.com/books?id=QsvUDwAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+hong+kong+broke+her+previous+record&pg=PP211#v=onepage&q=teresa%20teng%20hong%20kong%20broke%20her%20previous%20record&f=false |url-status=live }} His account of his internal exile in the mountains of Yunnan is better representative of this phenomenon:

Yunnan was endowed with a magnificent geographical gift: you could hardly hear central people's radio, and the newspaper would take days to make its way into the mountains and then be collected at the party's secretary's house, where you could ask him to tear off a strip when you wanted to roll up a cigarette. For people who listened to enemy radio, radio from the center, or the official newspaper was merely a supplemental reference. But listening to enemy radio was not about political news so much as entertainment. I remember that whenever the Australian national station broadcast a radio play of the Taiwanese film The Story of a Small Town everyone would bring their own radio because the shortwave signal would tend to drift and that way we could cover the entire frequency range and make sure we had continuous sound from at least one receiver at a time. The boys and girls sitting around that grass hut would be in tears! Especially when Teresa Teng's voice rang out, emotions would rise to a fever pitch – her voice was to die for.

File:Teresa_Teng_NY.jpg, NY (1980)]]

Teng became popular in Japan and Southeast Asia, and to some extent, South Asia, achieving a "cult status" in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and Japan, where she became a "barometer of cross-strait relations" in rising geopolitical tensions at the time,{{Cite web |date=10 May 2020 |title=Banned by Beijing, Teresa Teng's music was loved across China |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3083310/teresa-tengs-music-was-banned-beijing-didnt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214162210/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3083310/teresa-tengs-music-was-banned-beijing-didnt |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=9 December 2020 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}} and one of the first artists to break through linguistic and cultural barriers, garnering recognition and acclaim from cultures across much of the region that had previously been confined to national borders.{{Cite book |last1=Weintraub |first1=Andrew N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kl4EEAAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+asian+pop+favorite&pg=PA2 |title=Vamping the Stage: Female Voices of Asian Modernities |last2=Barendregt |first2=Bart |date=31 July 2017 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-7419-3 |pages=2 |language=en |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129174715/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kl4EEAAAQBAJ&dq=teresa+teng+asian+pop+favorite&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q=teresa%20teng%20asian%20pop%20favorite&f=false |url-status=live }} Teng's songs have been covered by hundreds of artists all over the world, such as Faye Wong, Leslie Cheung, Jon Bon Jovi, Siti Nurhaliza, Shila Amzah, Katherine Jenkins, Im Yoon-ah, David Archuleta, Agnez Mo, Greek singer Nana Mouskouri, English vocal group Libera, Jewish singer Noa, Grammy Award-winning American musician Kenny G, Kiwi pianist Carl Doy, Cuba's leading a cappella musical band Vocal Sampling, among others.{{Cite web |last=Chew Hui Min |date=20 August 2015 |title=Bon Jovi covers Teresa Teng classic – in Mandarin {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/bon-jovi-covers-teresa-teng-classic-in-mandarin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214171454/https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/bon-jovi-covers-teresa-teng-classic-in-mandarin |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=The Straits Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=MEI |first=THAM AI |date=15 September 2005 |title=Sadness behind the smile |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/content/thestar/website/lifestyle/entertainment/music/news/2005/09/15/sadness-behind-the-smile |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214171536/https://www.thestar.com.my/content/thestar/website/lifestyle/entertainment/music/news/2005/09/15/sadness-behind-the-smile |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=The Star |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Alhamzah |first=Tahir |date=11 November 2018 |title=#Showbiz: Kenny G's sax appeal leaves audience all awe-struck |url=https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/groove/2018/11/430273/showbiz-kenny-gs-sax-appeal-leaves-audience-all-awe-struck |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214171603/https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/groove/2018/11/430273/showbiz-kenny-gs-sax-appeal-leaves-audience-all-awe-struck |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=New Straits Times}} Her songs are also featured in various international films, such as Rush Hour 2, The Game, Prison On Fire, Year of the Dragon, Formosa Betrayed, Gomorrah, Crazy Rich Asians, and the Disney + TV series American Born Chinese.{{Cite book |last=Marchetti |first=Gina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NB_HDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |title=Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema |date=31 March 2018 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-6660-0 |pages= |language=en |access-date=6 August 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129174825/https://books.google.com/books?id=NB_HDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/tv/american-born-chinese-cultural-specificity-representation/|title=How American Born Chinese brought cultural specificity to the screen|first=Jessica|last=Wang|date=27 May 2023|newspaper=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=2 June 2023|archive-date=1 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601225601/https://ew.com/tv/american-born-chinese-cultural-specificity-representation/|url-status=live}}

In 1974, Teng entered the Japanese market, two years after Japan severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan. She was extremely popular in Japan throughout the 1970s and 1980s, having lived off her royalties in the country after semi-retiring in the late '80s. During this tenure, Teng recorded and performed Japanese pop songs, often termed as kayokyoku by Japanese media, and helped connect Japan to much of East Asia, particularly Taiwan, China, and some of Southeast Asia, helping bridge the gap between them, some of which were later covered in Mandarin, as reported by Nippon.{{Cite web |date=19 February 2016 |title=Teresa Teng: An Asian Idol Loved in Japan |url=https://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00285/teresa-teng-an-asian-idol-loved-in-japan.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214160840/https://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00285/teresa-teng-an-asian-idol-loved-in-japan.html |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=8 May 2020 |website=Nippon}}

Hirano Kumiko, an author at Nippon writes:

For Japanese, Teresa Teng was more than just a popular singer. By performing kayōkyoku, she connected Japan to its Asian neighbors. She taught us about the profundity of Chinese culture, whether in her birthplace of Taiwan, her ancestral home of China, or Hong Kong, which she loved throughout her life. We, her Japanese fans, will never forget her velvety voice and the brief, beautiful radiance of her life.

In 2007, Teng was inducted into the "Popular Music Hall of Fame" at the Koga Masao Music Museum in Japan, making her the only non-Japanese national to do so.{{Cite web |title=平成19年 大衆音楽の殿堂（顕彰者一覧） {{!}} 古賀政男音楽博物館 |trans-title=2007 Popular Music Hall of Fame (list of honorees) {{!}} Masao Koga Music Museum |url=http://www.koga.or.jp/information/sanctuary/sanctuary_h19.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173132/https://www.koga.or.jp/information/sanctuary/sanctuary_h19.html |archive-date=29 January 2024 |access-date=20 September 2021 |website=www.koga.or.jp}} In 2015, on an occasion to commemorate the 20th death anniversary of the singer, Akira Tada from Nikkei Asia wrote, "Asia has undergone significant changes in the past 20 years, with the flow of people, goods, and information having increased considerably. At the same time, new political frictions have developed. Teng, who continues to be loved across national and ethnic boundaries, still shines as a voice uniting Asia through song."{{Cite web |date=5 May 2015 |title=Teresa Teng's songs still resonate 20 years on |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Teresa-Teng-s-songs-still-resonate-20-years-on |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214145937/https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Teresa-Teng-s-songs-still-resonate-20-years-on |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=5 July 2022 |website=Nikkei Asia |language=en-GB}} In 2018, The Guardian wrote, "In 20th-century pop music, the voice of Elvis Presley is as iconic and identifiable in the west as that of Teresa Teng is in the east."{{Cite web |date=17 August 2018 |title=The Guardian view on the secret of singing: whatever it is, Aretha knew it {{!}} Editorial |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/17/the-guardian-view-on-the-secret-of-singing-whatever-it-is-aretha-knew-it |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214161356/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/17/the-guardian-view-on-the-secret-of-singing-whatever-it-is-aretha-knew-it |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=19 September 2021 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} According to Rolling Stone Philippines: "Teng's influence on Philippine music and pop culture has rekindled Filipinos' love for Mandopop across generations and communities throughout the Philippines."{{Cite web |last=Pareño |first=Elijah |date=2025-01-29 |title=Teresa Teng, the Taiwanese Singer Who Influenced PH Music |url=https://rollingstonephilippines.com/music/teresa-teng-taiwanese-mandopop-philippine-culture-music/ |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Rolling Stone Philippines |language=en-US}} Andrew N. Weintraub and Bart Barendregt described her as "a model of inter-Asian modernity whose voice crossed linguistic, national and generational borders", whereas John F. Copper called her "the most heard singer in the world ever" during her time.{{Cite book |last=Copper |first=John Franklin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tny-DwAAQBAJ&dq=Taiwan%27s+impact+on+China+Deng+Lijun&pg=PT36 |title=Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? |date=13 November 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-80831-9 |language=en |access-date=23 September 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129173207/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tny-DwAAQBAJ&dq=Taiwan%27s+impact+on+China+Deng+Lijun&pg=PT36#v=onepage&q=Taiwan's%20impact%20on%20China%20Deng%20Lijun&f=false |url-status=live }}

File:Stamp of Abkhazia (1996) - Teresa Teng 01.jpg postal stamp honoring Teng]]

Considered a "brilliant linguist" by The New York Times, Teng was named one of the world's seven greatest female singers by Time magazine in 1986.{{Cite news |date=7 September 2013 |title=Hologram brings diva back to life |url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/hologram-brings-taiwanese-diva-teresa-teng-back-to-life/news-story/ac63f46d9247165e9f69cdd0163bf8e6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214145515/https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/hologram-brings-taiwanese-diva-teresa-teng-back-to-life/news-story/ac63f46d9247165e9f69cdd0163bf8e6?nk=49795f06af634a50ad1e07df1b35dd4a-1676386515 |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=4 October 2021 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} In a national survey by Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) in 1997, her song "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" was voted number 16 among the 100 greatest Japanese songs of all time,{{Cite web|title=日本の歌・邦楽の名曲ランキング（20世紀の日本人を感動させた歌）～大畑亮介|url=http://www.u-canclub.jp/|access-date=4 September 2021|website=u-canclub.jp|archive-date=21 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921163759/http://www.u-canclub.jp/|url-status=live}} while her The Moon Represents My Heart ranked first among the 10 best Chinese classics of the 20th century in a poll by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) in 1999.{{Cite web |last=网易 |date=2021-01-13 |title=盘点20世纪香港乐坛十大金曲：邓丽君太经典，刘德华张国荣齐上榜 |trans-title=Taking stock of the top ten hits in the Hong Kong music scene in the 20th century: Teresa Teng is too classic, Andy Lau and Leslie Cheung are both on the list |url=https://www.163.com/dy/article/G089LUNM0537RI6M.html |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=NetEase Entertainment}} In 2008, Teng was the only singer to be selected among China's 30 outstanding people in 30 years of reform and opening up.{{Cite web |date=30 November 2008 |title=Prof. Wang Xuan Selected in "30 Outstanding People in Thirty-Year's Reform and Opening-Up" |url=https://english.pku.edu.cn/news_events/news/focus/568.html |access-date=14 November 2023 |website=Peking University |archive-date=14 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231114151410/https://english.pku.edu.cn/news_events/news/focus/568.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Zhou |first=Xiaohong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHU7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 |title=Inner Experience of the Chinese People: Globalization, Social Transformation, and the Evolution of Social Mentality |date=24 October 2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-981-10-4986-6 |pages=128 |language=en |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129174757/https://books.google.com/books?id=MHU7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA128#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} In 2009, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, a government web portal conducted an online poll to choose "The Most Influential Cultural Figure in China since 1949". Over 24 million people voted, and Teng came out as the winner with 8.5 million votes. File:Stamp of Tuva (1996) - Teresa Teng 09.jpg honoring Teng|left]]

In 2010, on the eve of "March 8th International Women's Day," she was named "the most influential woman in modern China" in a poll conducted by many well-known Chinese media from 1 March to 8 March.{{Cite web |title="最有影响力中国女性"调查结果公示-搜狐博客 |trans-title=The Most Influential Chinese Women" Survey Results Announced |url=https://zt.blog.sohu.com/s2010/201038gongshi/ |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605121620/https://zt.blog.sohu.com/s2010/201038gongshi/ |archive-date=5 June 2023 |access-date=5 June 2023 |website=zt.blog.sohu.com}} At the 2010 Chinese Music Awards, her song The Moon Represents My Heart was ranked first by critics among the 30 greatest Chinese musical works of the past 30 years.{{Cite web |date=2015-12-22 |title=華語金曲獎"30年經典揭曉 |trans-title=Chinese Golden Melody Award" 30-year classics announced |url=http://www.chinesemusicawards.org/news/2012/0125/59.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222074927/http://www.chinesemusicawards.org/news/2012/0125/59.html |archive-date=2015-12-22 |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=Chinesemusicawards.org}}{{Cite web |title="华语金曲奖" 30年经典揭晓 |trans-title=Chinese Golden Melody Awards" 30-year classics revealed |url=https://ent.sina.com.cn/y/2010-12-13/13533175464.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824163658/https://ent.sina.com.cn/y/2010-12-13/13533175464.shtml |archive-date=2023-08-24 |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=Sina Entertainment}} The same year, CNN listed Teng among the 20 most influential music artists of the past 50 years. In 2011, Teng's song The Moon Represents My Heart topped the online survey to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China. The same year, China Internet Information Center ranked her second on its list of top 10 Chinese celebrities who died young.{{Cite web |title=Top 10 Chinese celebrities who died young - China.org.cn |url=http://www.china.org.cn/top10/2011-07/21/content_23038059.htm#:~:text=From%20Bruce%20Lee%20to%20Leslie,legacy%20continues%20to%20live%20on. |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=www.china.org.cn}} In 2012, Commonwealth Magazine placed Teng at number 19 on its 50 most influential people in Taiwan in the last 400 years, making her the highest-ranked performer on the list.{{Cite web |title=五十位「影響力人物」 |url=https://www.cw.com.tw/article/5035791 |website=Commonwealth Magazine |access-date=3 January 2023 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129175339/https://www.cw.com.tw/article/5035791 |url-status=live }} On 21 September 2024, an Indo-Pacific Strategic Think Tank (IPST) in cooperation with Sankei Shimbun's polling company conducted a poll among 3,000 respondents in Japan on "Who is the most famous person in Taiwan?" Teng topped the poll, garnering 53.8% of the total votes. The poll was conducted across eight cities in Japan with respondents aged above 18.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-15 |title=日本人の「台湾のここが嫌い」は交通事情、最も知っている人はテレサ・テン (2024年10月15日) |trans-title=The thing Japanese people dislike most about Taiwan is the traffic situation. The person who knows it best is Teresa Teng |url=https://www.excite.co.jp/news/article/Recordchina_941952/ |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=Excite News Japan |language=ja}}{{Cite web |date=2024-10-13 |title=Most Japanese see Taiwan as independent: poll - Taipei Times |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2024/10/13/2003825206 |access-date=2024-10-18 |website=Taipei Times}}

The 1996 Hong Kong film Comrades: Almost a Love Story, directed by Peter Chan, features the tragedy and legacy of Teng in a subplot to the main story. The movie won Best Picture in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and at the Seattle International Film Festival in the United States.{{Cite web |last=Eisner |first=Ken |date=10 June 1997 |title=Seattle fest auds laud 'Comrades' |url=https://variety.com/1997/film/markets-festivals/seattle-fest-auds-laud-comrades-1116680009/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214170253/https://variety.com/1997/film/markets-festivals/seattle-fest-auds-laud-comrades-1116680009/ |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=9 April 2022 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} In 2007, TV Asahi produced a drama series entitled Teresa Teng Monogatari ({{lang|ja|テレサ・テン物語}}) to commemorate the 13th anniversary of her death. Actress Yoshino Kimura starred as Teng.{{Cite web |date=8 May 2007 |title=テレサ・テンと木村佳乃の時空を超えたコラボ実現！！ |url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/44414/full/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214170137/https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/44414/full/ |archive-date=14 February 2023 |access-date=9 April 2022 |website=Oricon News}}

In 2002, Teng's commemorative statue was erected in Fushou Garden, Qingpu District, Shanghai.{{cite web|url=http://www.fsygroup.com/brand/news/details/1378|title=邓丽君香逝26周年上海追思会在上海福寿园举行|publisher=Fu Shou Yuan International Group|accessdate=1 January 2023|language=Chinese|archive-date=1 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230101114749/http://www.fsygroup.com/brand/news/details/1378|url-status=live}} In 2010, a bronze statue was unveiled in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong,{{Cite web |title=邓丽君铜像落户香港 歌迷三鞠躬表尊敬(组图)_影音娱乐_新浪网 |trans-title=Teresa Teng's bronze statue was installed in Hong Kong |url=http://ent.sina.com.cn/y/p/2010-06-08/00212980722.shtml |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Sina Entertainment}} and another outside the Luzhou metro station in Taiwan on 25 June 2011.{{Cite news |date=26 June 2011 |title=鄧麗君銅像揭幕 蘆洲新地標 |trans-title=Bronze statue of Teresa Teng unveiled as new landmark of Luzhou |url=https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20110626000308-260107?chdtv |work=China Times}} In 2015, a temple in Changhua County, Taiwan, erected a statue of the singer, honoring her as "Miaoyun Bodhisattva".{{Cite web |title=百年廟辦5千桌普渡！驚見鄧麗君菩薩…家屬愣｜東森新聞 |url=https://news.ebc.net.tw/news/entertainment/172425 |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=EBC News |language=zh-hant |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921042844/https://news.ebc.net.tw/news/entertainment/172425 |url-status=live }} That same year, the Daming County government in Handan City, Hebei province, China, built a "Lijun Town" dedicated to her. It renovated Teng's ancestral home to its original appearance. Her singing can be heard in every corner of the town.{{Cite web |last=中国新闻网 |date=8 May 2018 |title=海内外"君迷"河北大名县"丽君小镇"悼念邓丽君 |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2018-05-08/doc-ihaichqy4636839.shtml |access-date=11 October 2021 |publisher=Sina Corp |archive-date=11 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011122249/http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2018-05-08/doc-ihaichqy4636839.shtml |url-status=live }} The city also features the "Teresa Teng Hanging Garden" and the "Teresa Teng Art Center", including a statue of the singer. Visitors can enjoy her music through artificial intelligence technology.{{Cite web|title=失落成语之都邯郸：哪家购物中心成为商业地标的有力争夺者？|url=http://news.winshang.com/html/064/2405.html|access-date=11 October 2021|website=news.winshang.com|archive-date=11 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011122251/http://news.winshang.com/html/064/2405.html|url-status=live}}

On 29 January 2018, a Google Doodle was released across Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Iceland to honor Teng on what has been her 65th birthday.{{Cite web |last=Karki |first=Tripti |date=29 January 2018 |title=Google Doodle celebrates 65th birth anniversary of Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng |url=https://www.indiatvnews.com/buzz/news-google-doodle-celebrates-65th-birth-anniversary-of-taiwanese-singer-teresa-teng-424806 |access-date=19 November 2020 |website=India TV |language=en |archive-date=25 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225081924/https://www.indiatvnews.com/buzz/news-google-doodle-celebrates-65th-birth-anniversary-of-taiwanese-singer-teresa-teng-424806 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=29 January 2018 |title=Teresa Teng's 65th birthday celebrated in Google Doodle |url=https://www.politicalanalysis.co.za/teresa-tengs-65th-birthday-celebrated-in-google-doodle/ |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=Political Analysis South Africa |language=en-US |archive-date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110113012/https://www.politicalanalysis.co.za/teresa-tengs-65th-birthday-celebrated-in-google-doodle/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Google Doodle commemorates Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3351495 |website=Taiwan News |date=29 January 2018 |access-date=10 January 2023 |archive-date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110113012/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3351495 |url-status=live }} To date, Teng's stamps have been issued by countries across the world, including Papua New Guinea, Timor, Sierra Leone, Argentina, Liberia, Tuva Republic of Russia, Abkhazia, Grenada, Sakha Republic of Russia, Batum, Japan, Guinea-Bissau, North Korea,Sources:

• {{Cite web |title=International Superstar Deng Lijun-2021Years Papua New Guinea Stamps6A Set of Foreign Stamps |url=https://shopee.sg/International-Superstar-Deng-Lijun-2021Years-Papua-New-Guinea-Stamps6A-Set-of-Foreign-Stamps-i.398940286.11321436031 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226153531/https://shopee.sg/International-Superstar-Deng-Lijun-2021Years-Papua-New-Guinea-Stamps6A-Set-of-Foreign-Stamps-i.398940286.11321436031 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |access-date=26 February 2022 |website=Shopee.sg}}
• {{Cite web |title=Teresa Teng |url=https://www.hipstamp.com/search?keywords=teresa+teng&parent_id=0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227142758/https://www.hipstamp.com/search?keywords=teresa+teng&parent_id=0 |archive-date=27 December 2021 |access-date=27 December 2021 |publisher=HipStamp}}
• {{Cite web |title=テレサ・テン｜写真付き切手（Ｐスタンプ）コレクション |url=http://yushu.or.jp/p_stamp/music25.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129175238/https://yushu.or.jp/p_stamp/music25.htm |archive-date=29 January 2024 |access-date=27 December 2021 |website=yushu.or.jp}}
• {{Cite web |title=Teresa Teng Postal Stamps |url=https://stampera.eu/stamps?category=SIERRA+LEONE+stamps+15+09+2023+Code%3A+SRL230520a-SRL230540b&search=teresa+teng&page=1 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Stampera.eu |language=en}} and Republic of Mali, in addition to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China.Sources:
• {{Cite web |title=Deng Lijun – famous Chinese singer from Taiwan s/s MNH #ML1116 IMPERF |url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/223535593330 |access-date=18 June 2022 |website=eBay |language=en-US |archive-date=18 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618104738/https://www.ebay.com/itm/223535593330 |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite web |title=邮票上的邓丽君 |url=https://www.sohu.com/a/143047649_640901 |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=sohu.com |language=zh |archive-date=8 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108181341/https://www.sohu.com/a/143047649_640901 |url-status=live }} Teng has a street in her name in Ivry-sur-Seine, Grand Paris. The name was adopted by the vote of the Municipal Council of France held on 17 February 2022.{{Cite web |last=d'Ivry-sur-Seine |first=Ville |title=Le groupe de travail " dénominations " ivryen |url=https://www.ivry94.fr/822/le-groupe-de-travail-denominations-ivryen.htm |access-date=1 December 2023 |website=Ville d'Ivry-sur-Seine |language=fr |archive-date=5 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205143913/https://www.ivry94.fr/822/le-groupe-de-travail-denominations-ivryen.htm |url-status=live }}

File:Teresea Teng & mother.jpg

Like her maternal grandmother Mary Chang ({{lang|zh-hant|張守鑫}}),{{cite web |last=Hirano |first=Kumiko |date=29 May 2020 |title=鄧麗君逝世25周年紀念――悼念時代風雲歌后 |trans-title=The 25th Anniversary of Teresa Teng's Death: A Tribute to the Queen of the Times |url=https://www.nippon.com/hk/japan-topics/g00878/ |access-date=4 July 2022 |website=Nippon |language=zh-hant |archive-date=8 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508031325/https://www.nippon.com/hk/japan-topics/g00878/ |url-status=live }} Teng grew up Roman Catholic. As a child, she often spent her time playing around St. Joseph Catholic Church in Luzhou, where she was baptised.{{Cite web |title=Teresa Teng's childhood religious ground |url=http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4640/teng4.html |access-date=25 July 2022 |website=library.taiwanschoolnet.org |archive-date=25 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225024334/http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4640/teng4.html |url-status=live }} Later on, Teng became a Buddhist and spent her last six years living quietly in France.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-08 |title=Singer Teresa Teng dies suddenly in Thailand at 42 – from the SCMP archive |url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3261686/singer-teresa-teng-dies-suddenly-thailand-42-leaving-showbiz-mourning-scmp-archive |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}

In 1971, Teng met her first boyfriend, Lin Zhenfa ({{lang|zh|林振發}}), a Malaysian paper tycoon, and they soon fell in love. In 1978, he died of a heart attack. Later, Teng, accompanied by her close friends, went to the cemetery to pay respects to her boyfriend.{{cite web |title=《歌声里》旗袍专场 揭邓丽君3段隐秘恋情 |url=http://ent.sina.com.cn/2015-05-04/doc-ichmifpz0890173.shtml |accessdate=8 January 2023 |publisher=Sina Corp |language=zh |archive-date=8 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108151140/http://ent.sina.com.cn/2015-05-04/doc-ichmifpz0890173.shtml |url-status=live }} In 1980, while in the US, Teng met Jackie Chan, who was filming in Hollywood. However, due to their personality differences, their relationship was short-lived and they parted ways.{{Cite web |title=何日君再来：邓丽君成龙昔日恋情回首(图)-搜狐新闻 |url=https://news.sohu.com/20100510/n272031422.shtml |access-date=9 January 2023 |website=news.sohu |archive-date=9 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109112742/https://news.sohu.com/20100510/n272031422.shtml |url-status=live }}

In 1982, Teng was engaged to Beau Kuok, a Malaysian businessman and the son of multi-billionaire Robert Kuok. However, Beau's grandmother imposed several conditions on their union, including that Teng cease her career as an entertainer, as well as fully disclose her biography and all her past relationships in writing. However, Teng turned down the proposal, and the marriage was hence called off. In 1990, Teng met French photographer Paul Quilery in France, who was a friend of a guitarist in her band. They dated for five years and got engaged a month before Teng died on 8 May 1995.{{Cite web |date=28 May 2021 |title=鄧麗君死臉留巴掌印、男友阻屍檢…20年後他揭死亡真相 |url=https://star.setn.com/news/1177958 |access-date=8 January 2023 |publisher=SET TV |language=zh-hant | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220916001948/https://star.setn.com/news/1177958 | archive-date=16 September 2022 | quote=當時保羅作為鄧麗君錄音團隊中一個吉他手的朋友前來探班時，經介紹認識後，保羅就當上了鄧麗君的專職攝影師，更進而產生戀情...就這樣他們一起走過5年的時光；在鄧麗君去世前的一個月，他們還在泰國的寺廟中舉辦了訂婚儀式。}}

{{Main|Teresa Teng albums discography|Teresa Teng singles discography}}

Teng received the following selected awards:

Japan:[http://www.ne.jp/asahi/lily/teresa/teresa2/data/prize.htm " テレサ・テン　データべース (Teresa Teng Database)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225416/http://www.ne.jp/asahi/lily/teresa/teresa2/data/prize.htm|date=3 March 2016}}. Retrieved 14 December 2007.

• 1974: 16th Japan Record Awards: New Artist Award for "Kūkō" ({{lang|ja|空港}})
• Japan Cable Awards: Grand Prix for "Tsugunai" ({{lang|ja|つぐない}}) in 1984: "Aijin" ({{lang|ja|愛人}}) in 1985; and "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" (時の流れに身をまかせ) in 1986. Teng's fourth Grand Prix for "Walare no Yokan" in 1988 was only for the All Japan Wired Cable Awards' year first-half award show (上半期)
• 1986: 28th Japan Record Awards: Gold Award for "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" ({{lang|ja|時の流れに身をまかせ}}).
• 1987: Japan Cable Awards: The Outstanding Star Award for "Wakare no Yokan" ({{lang|ja|別れの予感}})
• 1987, 1988: The Cable Radio Music Award for "Wakare no Yokan".
• 1995: The Cable Radio Special Merit Award ({{lang|zh-hant|有線功労賞}}) for three consecutive Grand Prix wins.

Taiwan:

• 1980: 15th Golden Bell Awards: Best Female Singer{{cite web|url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735|title=Teresa Teng: Asian Star|date=March 1982|publisher=Taiwan Today|accessdate=8 January 2023|archive-date=14 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214151428/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=12&post=22735|url-status=live}}

Hong Kong:

• 1978: RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards for "Siu Cyun Zi Lyun" ({{lang|zh|小村之戀}}){{cite web|url=http://rthk9.rthk.hk/classicschannel/goldsong01.htm|title=第一屆 (1978)|publisher=RTHK|language=ZH|accessdate=8 January 2023|archive-date=6 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606223426/http://rthk9.rthk.hk/classicschannel/goldsong01.htm|url-status=dead}}
• 1995: Golden Needle Award (posthumously){{cite web|url=http://rthk9.rthk.hk/classicschannel/goldsong18.htm|title=第十八屆 (1995)|publisher=RTHK|language=ZH|accessdate=8 January 2023|archive-date=6 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906014133/http://rthk9.rthk.hk/classicschannel/goldsong18.htm|url-status=dead}}

1. ^ Her birth name 鄧麗筠; Dèng Lìyún was commonly mispronounced "Dèng Lìjūn" (jūn is an alternative reading of the final character 筠), so she later adopted 鄧麗君; Dèng Lìjūn as her stage name, changing the final character,姜捷. 絶響: 永遠的鄧麗君. 時報出版, 2013. pp. 23–24. {{ISBN|9789571357065}} to match that pronunciation.

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons and category}}

• [http://www.teresa-teng.org Teresa Teng Foundation 鄧麗君文教基金會]
• {{AllMusic|id=p215143|label=Teresa Teng}}
• {{MusicBrainz artist|id=5c5cb762-d95e-47af-a7bf-35171eeab8e6}}
• {{IMDb name|849340|Teresa Teng}}

{{Teresa Teng}}

{{Portal bar|Taiwan|Asia|Biography|Music}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teng, Teresa}}

Category:1953 births

Category:1995 deaths

Category:Taiwanese Buddhists

Category:Cantopop singers

Category:Contraltos

Category:Converts to Buddhism from Christianity

Category:Converts to Buddhism from Roman Catholicism

Category:Deaths from asthma

Category:English-language singers from Taiwan

Category:Former Roman Catholics

Category:Mandarin-language singers

Category:Cantonese-language singers of Taiwan

Category:Taiwanese people from Hebei

Category:Japanese-language singers of Taiwan

Category:Taiwanese Hokkien pop singers

Category:Taiwanese people from Shandong

Category:Indonesian-language singers

Category:People from Yunlin County

Category:Taiwanese film actresses

Category:Taiwanese Mandopop singers

Category:Taiwanese television actresses

Category:20th-century Taiwanese actresses

Category:20th-century Taiwanese women singers

Category:Taiwanese expatriates in Hong Kong