As you may know, many Western celebrities get fun nicknames in China — like Benedict Cumberbatch, known over there as "Curly Blessing."
Australia's new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is no exception.
A sugar bun is a kind of traditional Chinese steamed bun that wraps loads of half-melted sugar.
Good job Mr. Turnbull, for joining the privileged Chinese-nickname-receiving league. But hold on.
Nobody is actually talking about Sugar Bun on Weibo. There, most of China's main outlets — Xinhua, Global Times, Sina News — are referring to him with a regular transliteration of his name in Mandarin, which sounds something like Te-en-bu-er.
And that, in turn, sounds like "Tang Bao" in Mandarin — which, depending on just how you pronounce it, translates as either Sugar Bun or Sugar Baby (both are spelled the same way).
But wait! Sugar Baby already exists — as a magical caterpillar from a popular Chinese TV drama called The Journey of Flower, which was broadcast earlier this year. Sugar Baby hides in human ears and can transform into a beautiful human woman.
"First thing I realized waking up in the morning is that we have a new PM and he shares a nickname with a caterpillar!" read one comment.
"Well, it might be a caterpillar, but at least a cute one," read a post in a forum for Chinese residents in Sydney.
Looks like Sugar Baby is a caterpillar that knows Kung-fu.
The character is so popular that many Weibo users are posting photos of themselves hugging a Sugar Baby doll asleep at night.
Chinese people living in Australia found "Sugar Bun" a cute mix-up. It's safe to say that the prime minister has a pretty cool nickname no matter what.
