TV drama to tell the story of Teresa Teng's life

A sixty-episode TV drama based on the life of the "great Asian diva" Teresa Teng is currently being shot in Pingtan, Fujian province.

With an investment of 260 million yuan( $ 37.8 million),the TV series, authorized by the Teresa Teng Foundation and financed by the HS Entertainment Group, is set to tell the story of Teresa Teng's life, including her childhood, career ups and downs and untimely death, at the age of just 42 in Thailand in 1995.

With a raft of live-action props being transported across the Taiwan Strait to Pingtan, the drama's sets truthfully reproduced Teng's former residence in Juan village in Taiwan as well as her living and working conditions in Japan and Southeast Asia.

The sets are not to be torn down after the shoot finishes, but preserved and used as a tourist attraction, providing Teresa Teng's fans from across the world with another destination where they can celebrate their icon's life.

Teng Chang-fu, Teresa Teng's third oldest brother and president of the Teresa Teng Foundation, hoped that shooting the drama might be a way to help Teng realize her unfulfilled wish of visiting the mainland.

"She really wanted to come to the mainland, but she didn't. Shooting the TV drama in Pingtan, the closest city on the mainland to Taiwan, might be a way to help her realize her wish of visiting the mainland," he said.

 Meanwhile, Zhao Yi, the drama's producer, hoped that with the screening of the drama, youngsters could be inspired by Teng's story and chase after their dreams.

"Teresa Teng is my idol, a goddess to me, and it is a great honor and dream for me to play her,” said Michelle Chen, a Taiwan actress starring Teng in the drama,who is best known for starring in the 2011 film You Are the Apple of My Eye.

Known as one of the "Five Great Asian Divas" during the 1970s and 1980s, Teresa Teng was a popular and influential pop singer from Taiwan who was best known for her folk songs and romantic ballads such as When Will You Return? and The Moon Represents My Heart.

The drama sets of Teresa Teng shooting in Pingtan truthfully reproduce Teng's early life in Taiwan. [Photo/ptnet.cn]

A scene from the set of the drama based on the life of Teresa Teng. [Photo/ptnet.cn]