Teng Yu-hsien (, Hakka: Then Yí-hièn; 21 July 1906 – 11 June 1944) was a Taiwanese

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

. He is noted for composing many well-known

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

s. Teng gave himself a Japanese-style pen-name as Karasaki Yau and a formal name called Higashida Gyōu . Teng is regarded as the Father of Taiwanese folk songs.

Biography

Teng Yu-hsien was born in Ryūtan, Tōshien Chō (modern-day Longtan, Taoyuan) of Japanese-ruled Taiwan. He migrated to Daitotei ( Twatutia) with his family when he was three years old. In 1914, Teng joined Bangka Public School (艋舺公學校). He graduated in 1920, and subsequently entered the Taihoku Normal School (modern-day

National Taipei University of Education National Taipei University of Education (NTUE; ) is a university located in Daan District, Taipei, Taiwan that predominantly focuses on teacher training. It was established in 1895, at the beginning of the Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, ...

). In 1925, Teng graduated and became a teacher of the Nishin Public School (日新公學校). After he married Chung You-mei (鍾有妹) in 1926, he departed from his teaching job and went to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to study composition theory in the Tokyo Music Academy. Teng returned to Taiwan in 1930, then served as a translator in Taichū District Court. In 1932, he was invited by Wen-sheng Records (文聲唱片) to compose the ''March of the Daitotei'' (大稻埕行進曲), a Japanese popular song which was thought to be lost, until it was rediscovered by a collector in 2007. Later, he was interested in

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, an early disc company in Taiwan, and was invited by Tan Kun-giok, a songwriter that served as an officer of the Columbia Records. In 1933, Teng composed several well-known Hokkien songs such as ''

Bang Chhun Hong Bang or bangs may refer to: Products * M1922 Bang rifle, a US semi-automatic rifle designed by Søren Hansen Bang * Bang, a model car brand * Bang (beverage), an energy drink Geography * Bang, Lorestan, a village in Iran * Bangs, Ohio, Unite ...

'' (望春風) and ''Goat Ia Chhiu'' (月夜愁). He created a representative work '' U Ia Hoe'' (雨夜花) in 1934, a song that depicts the mood of a fictional pathetic woman. Between 1934 and 1937, Teng composed many other songs include the ''Moa Bin Chhun Hong'' (滿面春風) and ''Su Kui Hong'' (四季紅). After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

occurred in 1937, the Japanese government began to reinforce the influence of Japanese culture, and thus suppressed the development of the Taiwanese Hokkien songs. Many of the songs that were composed by Teng were banned, and some were rewritten into

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

. In 1939, the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

intensified, thus Teng resigned from his job and fled to Kyūrin Village of

Shinchiku Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Taiwan during the Japanese era. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Taoyuan City, and Miaoli County. Population 1941 ( Showa 16) census *Total population: 838,011 **Jap ...

(modern-day

Qionglin, Hsinchu Qionglin Township is a rural township in central Hsinchu County, Taiwan. Its population was estimated at 20,158 in January 2017. Administrative divisions The township comprises 12 villages: Hualong, Qionglin, Shangshan, Shitan, Shuikeng, Wenli ...

) with his family, then served as a teacher in the Kyūrin Public School . His health situation was gradually getting worse at that time, but he still composed some Japanese songs. At that time, Teng adopted two Japanese names: Karasaki Yosame and Higashida Gyōu. On 11 June 1944, he died from lung disease and heart disorder. Asteroid 255989 Dengyushian, discovered by Taiwanese astronomers

Chi Sheng Lin Ngayaw Ake Lin Chih-sheng (; born 1 January 1982; birth name: Ngayaw Ake林智盛), also known as Ngayaw Ake in Amis language, is a Taiwanese indigenous baseball player for the Wei Chuan Dragons of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL ...

and

Ye Quan-Zhi This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...

in 2006, was named in his honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 12 October 2011 ().

List of composition works

References

External links

An introduction written in Chinese
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teng Yu-Hsien Taiwanese composers Han Taiwanese Taiwanese people of Hakka descent 1906 births 1944 deaths Musicians from Taoyuan City 20th-century composers Hakka musicians