This paper explores the ideologies of English in China through a meta-discursive analysis of Chinese netizens' comments on the performance of English by Huang Xiaoming, a famous Chinese actor. By applying Park and Wee's framework for analysing ideological evaluations of appropriation (i.e. ideologies of allegiance, competence, and authenticity) to online comments, this paper reveals that the ideological complex of English is in circulation in the Chinese society where people treat English as a language of the Other and themselves as illegitimate and incompetent users of English.