Widely accepted as Asia's singing queen, Teng's fame and success had a huge cultural impact in Asia. As for many, Teng is recognized as a Far East's first International singing star whose popularity and music recordings of '70s and '80s had a lasting effect on Asian diaspora and elsewhere. Until the late 1970s, for three decades foreign music and art were not allowed into mainland China, and love songs were virtually unknown. By incorporating traditional Chinese folk with western music influences she created her own music style that greatly influenced further music creations. Her songs were more about love, personal emotions for one's hometown, and sometime social issues in society, a striking contrast to the then state-sponsored propaganda songs in China – often revolutionary songs praising the ruling party, lacking in wide range of human emotions and modes of expression. At the time, personal relationship were often deemed too "unimportant" to be openly discussed. In 1977, Teng's popular romantic song "The Moon Represents My Heart," released that became one of the first foreign songs to break into the country. Teng's songs over the following decade further revolutionized Chinese music scene and culture that marked the end of extremely tight control exercised in preceding 3 decades by communist party over Chinese society and culture.