Western stars and their Chinese nicknames

Singer Taylor Swift performs during the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in London December 2, 2014.[Photo/Agencies]

Taylor Swift

Country singer Taylor Swift is young, talented and beautiful. It is no wonder she was originally referred to as "The Little Beautiful", or 小美女 (xiao mei nv).

In Mandarin, 美 (mei, or beautiful) is pronounced in the same as 霉 (mei). Swift, though talented as she is, sometimes finds herself faced with powerful competitors on the Billboard Hot 100 chart when she releases a feature single. Whenever this happens, her heartbroken Chinese fans say she's second on the chart because of bad luck, or 倒霉 (dao mei).

Over time, they eventually began calling her 霉霉 (mei mei).