Teresa Teng: From Asia's Diva to YouTube Sensation

Teresa Teng (1953-1995) is the best known and most beloved singer in the history of modern Asia—making her career a useful entry point for learning about modern Asia itself. Raised on the island of Taiwan, she became popular from her teens, when she began singing pop standards for Chinese audiences in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Thereafter her popularity spread to Japan and mainland China—with millions of Chinese esteeming her as the symbol of a new emphasis on private experience over political fervor. Overall, her mellow love songs provided personal comfort in a region that was increasingly consumerist, yet haunted by both the turbulence of its recent past and its fears of losing touch with cultural traditions. This presentation will use analysis, anecdotes, and YouTube clips to shed light on a figure who accumulates ever greater attention in East Asia as the years pass.

David Gordon, an associate professor in Shepherd’s History Department, received his Ph.D. in the field from the University of Hawaii. He specializes in the intellectual history of twentieth-century Japan. His interests, however, range broadly and last year Pearson Prentice Hall published his Sun Yatsen: Seeking a Newer China—a biography of a twentieth-century Chinese revolutionary—as part of its Library of World Biography series.