23 years on: Death can't do Teresa Teng and her Chinese fans part

Today would have been the 65th birthday of Teresa Teng, or Deng Lijun in Mandarin. Google celebrated the occasion, honoring the Chinese queen of songs, known for her folk and romantic ballads, with a doodle that comes up on the search engine's homepage.

As the most popular singer in the 1980s and 1990s, Teng was widely known by the Chinese-speaking world and her sweet voice has captured a whole generation.

Born in Taiwan in 1953, Teng's singing talent came to light at the young age of ten. Her rendition of Cai Hong Ling (Picking Red Water Chestnuts) won the first prize at a singing contest organized by the Gold Horse Record Company.

Her win heralded the beginning of Teng's singing career, which saw the star releasing eight albums in just two years in the late 1960s.

Teng's voice moved audiences in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French and Malay, as the singer was a polyglot.

Teng's sweet image and voice soon thrust her to stardom. She was a superstar in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and beyond the Chinese territories. She won widespread acclaim in Japan, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.