Teresa Teng’s music was banned by Beijing but that didn’t stop Chinese fans from loving the Taiwanese singer
- Even after the ban on her songs was lifted, Teng rejected every invitation to perform in mainland China
- She died suddenly while on holiday in Thailand, in 1995, and five years later her ‘luxurious’ Stanley home was opened to the public
“The entertainment industry last night mourned the sudden death of singer Teresa Teng,” reported the South China Morning Post on May 10, 1995. The 42-year-old Taiwanese singer had been on holiday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, when she complained of feeling unwell. It was later confirmed that she had died of “an acute asthma attack which led to heart failure”.
Teng rose to prominence aged 11 after entering a televised singing contest. By the time she was 21, she had achieved “cult status” in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and Japan, “becoming a barometer of cross-strait relations”.
“The Beijing Government banned her sentimental love songs in the 1980s as ‘spiritual pollution’, even though fans all over China still listened to her on pirated tapes smuggled from Hong Kong. The Taipei Government, meanwhile, used her songs in anti-communist propaganda broadcasts to the mainland until China finally lifted the ban at the end of the decade,” the Post reported.
Teng rejected invitations to perform in mainland China and was critical of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The singer was laid to rest in Taipei on May 28. Five years later, Teng’s “luxurious” Hong Kong home, in Stanley, was opened to the public, “partly to mark the fifth anniversary of the singer’s death and partly to raise funds for charities”, according to a Post article from May 25, 2000. “It is the nearest thing Hong Kong has to Graceland.”
Fans paid HK$20 for a tour of the house, passing through her sitting room, music room and bedroom.
“I miss her so much,” one visitor told the Post. “I was in a taxi when I heard about her death. My heart missed a beat. I was devastated. I’ve listened to her since the 1960s. I love her voice and her gentle character. She was always smiling […] As a fan, it is my mission to make sure that her music will go on forever and that her name never dies.”
