Profile | How G.E.M. became ‘China’s Taylor Swift’; the Hong Kong singer-songwriter’s story

Early in her career, Gloria Tang enjoyed success and an awards nomination for her music. Then mainland Chinese TV shot her to superstardom

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G.E.M. performing in Hong Kong in 2015. We chart the singer’s rise and her extraordinary success in mainland China. Photo: Shi Yu-song

Mabel Lui

Published: 7:15am, 17 Jan 2025Updated: 10:38am, 17 Jan 2025

Corrected [10:33am, 17 Jan, 2025]

[10:33am, 17 Jan, 2025]
G.E.M. is not a Hong Kong native, as an earlier version of the story read. As the story also says, she was born in Shanghai.

This is the 42nd instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.

G.E.M. is that rare Cantopop singer who is more popular in mainland China than in Hong Kong. The musician, whose real name is Gloria Tang Tze-kei, has certainly lived up to her stage name over the past 15 years.

Aside from songs and performances that have the ability to “get everybody moving” – her stage name was originally intended as an acronym of the phrase – she is considered a gem in mainland China, where she shot to fame in 2014 after appearing on the singing competition TV show I Am a Singer.

Today she is sometimes called “China’s Taylor Swift” because of the similarities she shares with the American pop star; they are both known for writing their own songs, often about love and romance.

Tang in an interview with the Post in 2010. The pop star is known as “China’s Taylor Swift”. Photo: May Tse

Born in 1991, Tang spent her early childhood years in Shanghai before moving to Hong Kong at age four.

She was exposed to music as a young child through various family members, including her mother and grandmother, who were both singers.

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Hong Kong’s pop culture icons

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