TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese government has recently taken a series of actions to crack down on its entertainment industry and to control extreme fan behavior; yet by doing so, both the Chinese government and fandom have demonstrated how deeply freedom of speech is suppressed within China.
Within the last month alone, a list of celebrities, including Kris Wu (吳亦凡), Zhang Zhehan (張哲瀚), and Zhao Wei (趙薇) have been boycotted in China for various reasons, while the government has issued several orders to curb “chaotic” fan behavior. The string of events shows the Chinese government’s increasing need to control not only the entertainment industry but also fans’ voices, though fans in China are anything but typical as compared to the rest of the world.
Fans of the mobile game “Mr Love: Queen’s Choice” buy one side of a Chinese skyscraper to celebrate the birthday of one of the game’s protagonists. (Weibo screenshot)
The entertainment industry in China has grown at a shocking rate in recent years as money pours in from all sources, and the momentum has yet to die down. As a result, celebrities have wielded increasing power within Chinese society, armed with fans who go to extreme lengths just to show love for people or things they like.
In China, when a celebrity endorses a brand or becomes a brand’s ambassador, fans often buy exclusively and excessively to support their “idol” (愛豆), making celebrities’ endorsement deals an important indicator of his or her popularity. Any new deals are announced as an event celebrated by the brand and fans alike; however, when a celebrity is canceled or boycotted in China, the number of deals lost is also the first thing the media counts.
Following Chinese actor Wang Kai’s endorsement of Alkaqua, fans have been buying the bottled water in bulk. (Weibo screenshot)
When Zhang Zhehan (張哲瀚) shot to fame in February this year after starring in the highly popular drama “Word of Honor” (山河令), he made deals with over two dozen brands, including some of the world’s biggest brands such as Nivea, Maybelline, and Coca Cola. However, within two days of old photos of him visiting Japan’s Yasukuni Shrine emerging online, he reportedly suffered a loss of 27 endorsement deals, on top of getting all past and future works removed or canceled.
As celebrities make fortunes in China, they also endure unruly fan behavior, which makes the news from time to time. Chinese singer and actor Wang Yibo (王一博) is an example of a celebrity who has long suffered from intrusive fan behavior and has dealt with several incidents, such as his personal number getting leaked, fans installing trackers on his car, and fans knocking on his hotel room door in the middle of the night.
Wang Yibo asks fans who obtained his personal number to stop calling and using it online. (Weibo screenshot)
In China, there was an unwritten rule that celebrities must be responsible for “managing” fans and keeping fans in check, which has now been spelled out in government policies, as announced on People’s Daily.
According to the newest policies, celebrities’ agencies must certify any online accounts of fan clubs and may face punishment for not “leading” fans to behave correctly. This involves discouraging fans from engaging in online disputes, not “tempting” fans to buy products, and banning minors from spending money.
Following the announcement of these policies, the company Weibo account of actress Zhao Liying’s (趙麗穎) was banned from posting for 15 days, as the management company had been ineffective at curbing fans’ attacks on her rumored next co-star Wang Yibo and his fans.
Actress Zhao Liying’s company Weibo account was banned from posting for 15 days. (Weibo screenshot)
Such behavior is far from abnormal in China, where fans draw very clear domain boundaries according to what they love and hate and do not hesitate to pounce on anyone who dares voice a different opinion. The phrase “fawn in your own territory” (圈地自萌) is used regularly to scold any violators who stumble into the wrong hashtag or wish to share a crossover idea.
The phenomenon was highlighted by the “Xiao Zhan Incident,” in which Chinese singer and actor Sean Xiao (肖戰) faced national boycotts after his fans reported the fanfiction website “Archive of Our Own” (AO3) over a fanfiction that depicted him as what they deemed to be “offensive” and “pornographic.”
The report led to China’s Great Firewall blocking access to AO3, infuriating many online readers and writers who enjoyed what little freedom of expression they had on the foreign website, and who then boycotted Xiao and all media, brands, and people related to him.
Sean Xiao. (Wikipedia photo)
Increasingly, the Chinese entertainment industry has become a strange mixture of capitalism and totalitarianism, in which the government tries hard to stifle the love and obsession fans so eagerly express through their already limited openings. With the recent actions the Chinese authorities have taken, it’s hard to predict what will become of the industry and of the “fan circle.”
