Taylor Swift and Charles Zhang Chaoyang dating rumors: Chinese tycoon denies rumors, claims to not know Swift

Featured in the image is American singer Taylor Swift.REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

Taylor Swift is no stranger to dating rumors, having dated several high-profile celebrities like singer John Mayer, One Direction member Harry Styles, "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner, DJ and record producer Calvin Harris, and even "The Avengers" and "Thor" actor Tom Hiddleston. Just recently, the most unexpected dating rumor has surfaced the world wide web. Apparently, people seem to think she is dating Chinese tycoon Charles Zhang Chaoyang.

Shanghaiist has reported that rumors about the two dating surfaced recently after there were talks on Weibo, China's microblogging site, that a middle-aged Chinese tech tycoon fluent in the English language was dating "America's number one singer," which people quickly assumed to be 52-year-old Zhang and "Trouble" singer Swift. It is unclear as to how the said speculation came about.

However, the rumors are just rumors after all. According to a report on South China Morning Post, Zhang, the founder and CEO of Chinese internet giant Sohu, has dismissed the rumors that he is dating the American singer. "It's just a rumor. I have no interest in foreign women," he said in a video on Qianfan, Sohu's live-streaming platform, last week. He also defended himself by clarifying that he does not even know who Taylor Swift is.

Although his statement did shed some light on the rumor, it did not sit well with Swift's fans. After the video went viral on social media, it gained mixed reactions from people, mostly negative ones. According to a report, a commenter expressed that Zhang had offended foreign women in general. Another person also commented, "It's not as if Taylor would be interested in him."

It was not only Zhang whom people speculated that was dating Swift, though. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun was also in question, but that was ruled out later on because he is not a fluent English speaker.

Swift has yet to make a statement regarding the issue.