After the Soviet Empire expired in the 1989–1991 period, commentators worldwide revealed the autopsy results. The patient died of terminal socialism, a disease characterized by backward economies, massive shortages, and the absence of competition in both political and economic life. Powerful internal resistance movements (such as Solidarity in Poland), encouraged by the resolute leadership of President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II, helped pull the plug. The state had indeed “withered away,” but not in the fashion the false prophet Karl Marx envisioned.
“We could keep out books. We could keep out television. But we could not keep out rock ‘n’ roll. Rock ‘n’ roll was fundamental to bringing down communism.”
Teresa Teng established herself as Asia’s premier singer in a career that spanned nearly three decades. She mixed Eastern and Western genres into her own unique popular music. No Asian musician came close to her renown in the decades of the ’80s and ’90s. She was a superstar by any estimation, recording more than 1,700 songs and selling about 48 million albums. Her songs of love and relationships, combined with a new “breath singing” method, broke the collectivist mold ordained by authorities in communist countries such as China. Young people turned to Teresa Teng to escape the boredom of official tunes meant to glorify state and country.
Teng’s music began to be pirated into mainland China in the mid-’70s and would influence listeners in the communist state just as rock and roll helped shred the Iron Curtain in Europe.
The People’s Republic of China hard-liners perceived the threat almost immediately. Not only was Teng from Taiwan, which Beijing considered a breakaway province, but also her music celebrated the individual instead of the state. Her lyrics were not explicitly political, but she occasionally sang of freedom in vague terms. People found the music liberating, so Beijing’s paranoids banned her work for years.
Meanwhile, Mao Zedong died in 1976, opening the door for a new generation of reformers led by Deng Xiaoping. He became the mainland’s leader in 1978, and, like Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, he recognized that sclerotic socialism needed some measure of freedom to reform. Under the slogan “It doesn’t matter what color the cat is as long as it catches mice,” Deng opened the country to limited free enterprise, foreign trade and investment, and a diversity of cultural influences (the “Open Door Policy”).
By the time of Deng’s reforms, Teresa Teng’s songs had already flooded China’s black markets. Deng’s government surrendered to the inevitable and lifted the ban on Teng’s music in the mid-’80s. Her notoriety then broke all records. It was widely said that while Chinese people listened to “old Deng” by day, they preferred to hear “little Teng” by night.
Then came the nightmare of the Tiananmen Square massacre in early June 1989. Student protesters by the thousands occupied Beijing’s main square for a month, demanding greater freedom and an end to the communist one-party monopoly. Teresa Teng supported the students from afar, even performing before 300,000 in Hong Kong in their defense. But as the world sadly knows, Deng Xiaoping ordered the Army to crush the uprising, killing at least a thousand and jailing many more.
She never performed on the mainland. After Tiananmen Square, she publicly declared she would not do so until the two Chinas were united under freedom, not communism.
Teng earned millions as Asia’s music superstar and became a pioneering philanthropist, raising huge sums for projects ranging from water systems in Thailand to disaster relief and other charitable endeavors in multiple countries. To the communists in Beijing, that was another mark against her because humanitarian assistance should come from the state, not private, “greedy” capitalists.
As the first Chinese-speaking vocalist to gain recognition and international influence, she opened doors for other artists throughout the region. Her notoriety ultimately reached every continent. Countries that issued postage stamps in her honor include Russia; Sierra Leone, Mali, and Guinea-Bissau in Africa; Grenada in the Caribbean; and many in Asia. Her music still sells briskly the world over.
Teresa Teng died at the age of 42 from a severe asthma attack while in Thailand. Her premature demise sent shock waves throughout Asia, but the spirit of her unique music resonates to this day. When the captive peoples of Beijing’s tyranny are someday liberated, we will look back and likely credit Teng’s music for contributing to the revolutionary spirit that finally got the job done.
