This study addresses the linguistic forms and functions that English assumes and the social and psychological roles that English plays in Chinese popular culture, specifically, the language-mixing phenomenon in contemporary China. The corpus of data includes (a) advertising: 1042 TV commercials; (b) music: 700 songs (the top 500 songs, top 100 new songs, and top 100 old songs from the Baidu MP3 website) and 161 songs in The Voice of China (2012); and (c) entertainment TV shows: 27 episodes of 20 popular TV programs. The quantitative results demonstrate that English plays an active role in Chinese popular culture. In the corpus, 83% of TV commercials, 12% of popular songs, and 66% of the songs in The Voice of China (2012) contain English elements. Qualitative analysis identifies a diverse range of linguistic forms and functions of English in Chinese popular culture. Notably, English has often been altered, changed, and adapted in various ways. These adapted English forms incorporate various elements from Chinese culture and the Chinese language. While the extensive use of English demonstrates the great influence of globalization, the English forms with Chinese characteristics indicate the power of localization when English as a foreign language is learned, accepted, and used in an Expanding Circle area. For each of the three popular culture genres examined in this study, the identities, language ideologies, and social, cultural, and stereotypical meanings associated with English are discussed. Results show that English is much more than just a language. It can also function as an important social and cultural symbol, carrying with it a wide range of symbolic values and stereotypes.