Talk:Teresa Teng

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How does one translate 月亮代表我的心? That is another one of her famous songs. -Spencer195 03:25, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin is normally rendered as 'The Moon Represents My Heart'. Fantastic song, imho. - TheSeez

Contents 1 Cantopop 2 Xie Xie Ni VS Rong Shu Xia 3 Age 4 As Gentle as Breeze 5 KMT connections?? 6 More on Teresa's Life 7 Biography

[edit] Cantopop

Regarding this edit by Huaiwei, her songs were not only sung in Mandarin. She also had some Cantonese songs. — Instantnood 12:55, May 1, 2005 (UTC)

Classifying every single singer who sings a single Cantonese song in his/her career as a Cantopop singer is plainly unworkable and makes little sense. Considering plenty of Cantopop Singers also sing a song or two in English, shall we classify them as English singers instead? Terera Teng, in particular, is also a major contributor to the Japanese music scene. Shall we call her a J-Pop singer next?--Huaiwei 13:39, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

While I would conceive her as an Enka singer, not a J-Pop one. Anonymous Coward 59.78.18.5 12:33, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I am not defending to keep it in that category. I bring the issue to this discussion page because we have to work out what would be qualified. And as a matter of fact, Teng did not only sing a "single Cantonese song in her career", or "a song or two". — Instantnood 14:24, May 1, 2005 (UTC)

And I am not defening my action in removing it from the category either? Duh. This is not of major interest here. Bring forth the evidence to demonstrate why she should be classified in this category, and we shall talk further. My commentary on one song is obviously an analogy, because you arent specifying if "some" means a few or hundreds of songs.--Huaiwei 14:32, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Out of the 60 songs listed on this site, 10 are Cantonese. And I'm pretty sure she has more than 60 songs. Would you mind telling why you think she is not notable for Cantopop? Thanks in advance. — Instantnood 14:54, May 1, 2005 (UTC)

Which of the 10 are cantonese? As for why she is not a Cantopop Singer, her carrier is overwelmmingly based in Taiwan, and she sings overwelmingly in Mandarin. In addition, she has sung a few in Japanese (many of which were translated into Mandarin and became some of her best hits), Cantonese, Hokkien and English. But all these were obviously secondary to her Mandarin singing career. Cantopop is a niche market she does not represent. Just about every Cantopop singer also belts out Mandarin songs, so I suppose that makes the Cantopop category redundant, if you are going to go by quantity of songs?--Huaiwei 15:15, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

To me, as long as one's career in Cantopop is substantial, she/he will be qualified. It was you who tried to quantify. :-D — Instantnood 15:33, May 1, 2005 (UTC)

You still have not defined when is someone's Cantopop career "substantial" for it to be qualified. Instead, you prefer to make strange sentences like "It was you who tried to quantify" which I completely fail to comprehend.--Huaiwei 15:40, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

In the link that Instantnood sent, the songs that are Cantonese are the ones with the yellow 粵 icon next to them. Out of the 60, 10 of them have that icon. Also, I think it's not necessarily the number of Cantonese songs that matter, but whether the person had influence in Cantopop culture. Teresa Teng was heavily featured on Hong Kong radio during the the 1970s, and so was not uninfluential during the history of Cantopop. Faye Wong, who is unambiguously classified as a Cantopop singer, considers Teng her idol. Online music stores also categorize her music under Cantopop [1]. HKVP radio also considers her a Cantopop singer [2], and they describe themselves as "the only Cantonese Internet radio station that plays music 24 hours a day from Hong Kong's golden era of pop music" [3]. HKVP radio also says this in one of their featured articles: "One of the most recognizable faces in Cantopop belongs to the bright Teresa Teng" [4]. There are many sources out there that classify her under Cantopop, so if that view exists, shouldn't it be included? --Umofomia 20:43, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Please be careful interpreting sources, and not simply plug them off the internet without thinking through them. I shant talk about the "60" song issue, since I agree quantity is hardly a valid qualifer. Instead, I refer to the only other two sources cited. An online music store can hardly be considered definitive in defining who is a cantopop star, when clicking on "Cantpop" [5] shows you artist ranging from Leehom Wang, to Stefanie Sun, from Jay Chou to Tanya Chua, from Jolin Tsai to Stella Huang? Worse, do I see F4 and S.H.E as well? And even Wu Bai and China Blue, because Wu Bai has moved to HK or what? Cantopop Singers, all of them? As for the sources from HKVP radio, I see the same issues. Jeff Chang? Zhang Huimei? Emil Chau? Jay Chou? Fong Fei Fei? Tsai Chin? Takeshi Kaneshiro? Just some examples, and I didnt actually scritinise every single one of their entries, but isnt it obvious by now they are merely playing songs from some of the more revered artists across the Chinese music industry, even if they have never sung a single song in Cantonese, or contributed directly to cantopop, merely being an influence in the way Western music also influences Cantopop? I suppose The Cranberries should be added, since Faye Wong sang a cover of one of their songs?--Huaiwei 22:03, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

While I agree that just because they're listed on a list doesn't necessarily make them Cantopop, however, in the case of the featured article I linked, she's specifically cited as influential in the development of Cantopop [6]. She different from say, the Cranberries, because subsequent singers borrowed her singing style and manner of performance, and she was beloved by the Hong Kong public (plus the Cranberries didn't sing in Cantonese, which is the other criteria for telling whether someone is considered Cantopop). I'm not familiar enough with the other singers you cite to comment on them (my knowledge of Cantopop only extends up until the early 80s). Here's another article (in Chinese), that cites her in the development of Cantopop (粵語流行曲): [7]. Taiwanese singers during that period had an influence in the direction of Cantopop. Cantopop didn't really mature until the 70s and 80s, and many of the songs before that period were in Mandarin, but these singers helped push it along by singing in Cantonese. Just because she originates from Taiwan doesn't mean she can never be considered part of Cantopop. She wouldn't be mentioned in the articles otherwise if there were no influence. Here's another article in Chinese on the history of Cantopop that cites her also: [8]. Isn't the fact that it's cited by others enough to add it to the article? These links aren't just lists, they're actual essays on the development of Cantopop. --Umofomia 06:24, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

Cranberries was just an analogy, but hey, they did influence alot of Faye Wong's singing style, which in turn influenced Mandopop, wont you agree? (And talking about Faye Wong, she isnt Cantopop either. She is much more revered as a C-pop or even Mandopop artist) Now the problem with Teresa Teng, is that she influences the entire East Asian music scene, and not just cantopop alone. All your sources fail to indicate that she is only an influence to cantopop. And all the more, none of them indicate that is a direct contributor to cantopop comparable to other cantopop artists who develop the genre consciously. Teresa Teng is beloved by the HK public, but so is she across the rest of East and Southeast Asia. Does this make her an automatic artist in all regions her music had an influence in? Why is she not classified as a Japanese singer? An English singer? And remember the cuisine discussion? Teresa Teng is clearly a C-pop artist, and if Cantopop is a subset of C-pop, why classify her twice in the same genre? Remember Hong Kong Surnames? Some of you seems overly intent in classifying anything and everything remotely related to all things Hong Kong, without taking account the fact that doing so gives quite a skewed impression of their overall impacts, contributions, influence, and scope. In my opinion, she should be classified as a c-pop artist, as well as a Japanese singer.--Huaiwei 07:28, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, I've been away so it took a while to get back to you. Anyway, I think this case is different from the surname and dim sum cases that we had discussed previously. In this case, she specifically wrote her songs for the Cantopop market in the Cantonese language. If she had not done this but was famous in Hong Kong anyway, then I would otherwise agree with you. Also, if we follow your reasoning all the way, I don't see why you would classify her as a Japanese singer as well. Since she influenced the entire East Asian music scene, wouldn't she then just be listed as an East Asian singer and not specifically C-pop and J-pop (she's also pretty popular in southeast Asia as well)? In my opinion, I agree with you that she should be classified as C-pop and J-pop, but she should also be classified as Cantopop because that category is not entirely a subset of C-pop. --Umofomia 23:32, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

I can see from the above that the same issue applies. Some folks somehow think that surnames like Ng can only be found in HK, and created a classification for it alone. They think Dim Sum is "Hong Kong eating culture", as thou it was not eaten in the rest of the Cantonese or further afield, and classify it twice in a subset of Chinese cuisine. In this case, both problems cross paths. Firstly, please note that "Taiwanese Singer" and "Cantopop" are two different categories. While the first suggests they are classified according to nationality, the second classifies it according to genre. If you have her classified as such, it is as thou she is a Taiwanese-born singer who contributes to nothing but cantopop. As I said above, it skews impressions quite badly in that setup. Secondly, as far as I know, there is no accepted genre for "East Asian music", but there is one for C-pop and J-pop. We could create one based on nationality, as in "East Asian singer", but is this category sustainable?

I made references above to her being classified as "Japanese singer" or "J-pop" and so forth, but in actual fact, I mentioned this to bring out the absurdness of trying to classify her just because she wrote or sang a few songs in that language. I do not consider her a J-pop or Japanese singer, even thou she grapped plenty of singing awards there, commands a legion of Japanese fans, and many of her hits were Mandarin cover versions of Japanese songs. Needless to say, I hardly consider her a cantopop singer as well, particularly when her Cantonese songs are not even well heard off outside that region. Compare, for example, to Sio Ba Zang, a hokkien song, but one of her signature tunes even outside the Hokkien speaking regions. In other words, one has to take a step back, and evaluate her from her overall contributions to the music industry. How much is her contribution to Cantonese music, compared to Chinese music? She sang a few songs in English, and travelled there to perform too. Do you classify her in that genre as well? I have been asking this over and over. Do you classify people by genre just because they sang one song in it?

Which then leds me to ask. Is cantopop as a category sustainable? Is it simply a category attempting to group any singer who sang at least a single Cantonese song in his/her career (such as the attempt to add Kit Chan to that category, which I repeatedly removed?) And can anyone elaborate on why Cantopop is "not entirely a subset of C-pop"?--Huaiwei 05:40, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Let's settle the surname issue first. I guess you're saying about me by saying "some folks". Did I ever say that the surname "Ng" is only found in Hong Kong? Just leave this question if you don't think you're talking about me, and sorry for the trouble. — Instantnood 09:06, May 11, 2005 (UTC)

I said "some folks", coz I dont even know if you are the only one. In fact, I dont even know if you still hold that view, so of coz saying "some folks" is far less pointed and confrontationary then saying "Instantnood", wont you agree?--Huaiwei 15:47, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Just to let you folks know, that I am considering a cfd on the Cantopop category. Category_talk:Cantopop.--Huaiwei 07:01, 14 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Xie Xie Ni VS Rong Shu Xia

Did anybody notice they have exactly the same melody? I wonder what's the story behind that... Yu Tian made a tribute...???

[edit] Age

According to the dates of birth and death, Teng was 42 when she died, not 43 as the article claims. Can someone verify the birthdate and deathdate? Chopsticks 23:50, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

43 is what it would be under the Chinese system (people are automatically 1 at birth under this system). On a side note, when I searched ProQuest for her obituaries, I found that most of them listed her final age as 40.

[edit] As Gentle as Breeze

I am pondering -- should that song be removed, because the version of the song she recorded was a cover of Cai Qin? --Nlu

[edit] KMT connections??

According to a recent blogpost [9] Ms Deng had covert KMT connections. Can anyone confirm/deny this? 88.104.40.180 20:46, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More on Teresa's Life

While Teresa's entry contains a good discussion of her music (I am a fan) There are other facts about her life not covered. e.g. she was born with a different name, the Chinese name given here is her stage name. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.141.92.13 (talk • contribs).

You are welcome to edit the article if you want to, as long as the edits fit Wikipedia's guidelines. --Nlu (talk) 08:13, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

OK, I have added the birth name Deng Li Yun from [10]. I have tidied it in various other ways and removed the Cleanup tag. Fayenatic london 21:13, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Biography

About the section on "By day Deng Xiaoping rules...by night Deng Lijun rules", doesn't there seem to be an error if her birth name is stated at Deng Li Yun, but the quote is Deng Lijun, or am I missing something? Ddcc 01:59, 31 January 2007 (UTC)