The late singing sensation, who conquered most of Asia with her brand of effortless and beguiling folk songs and ballads, was famed for her vocal inflections and adorable, girl-next-door looks. She had begun singing when she was five years old and had often performed at informal parties and evening gatherings in her native Taiwan. She gave up her formal education in her third year of middle school and began a proper singing career.  

During the 1970s, when China had just emerged from its cultural revolution, her soft singing voice could be heard everywhere in the world where Chinese immigrants lived. Subsequently, her songs, which were touted by Chinese authorities as being “spiritual pollution”, were banned.