Profiles

Pop King Jackson's No 1 fan

By Mei Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-25 07:04

BEIJING - The life and death of the King of Pop Michael Jackson has been changing the life path of 28-year-old Zhang Rui, who went from being an English student to an icon among the Chinese fans.

Zhang Rui, the No1 Jackson fan in China

Hailed by many as the No 1 Jackson fan in the country, Zhang is spreading the message of love and confidence to his community, inspired by Jackson.

The man who runs the world's largest online fan community is amazed that he is getting fame due to his love and admiration for the late Jackson.

"I feel a little embarrassed that I'm getting my own fans from being a Jackson fan myself," he says, in a ripe tone that fails to match his young face.

The president of Jackson's Chinese fan club and a fan for 16 years, 28-year-old Zhang is in charge of a fan-based website with more than 100,000 registered members and 100 million visitors since its founding in 2000, which makes it the world's largest fan community, according to Zhang, who said the next largest fan website only registers about 20,000 fans. The website provides a platform for information updates and offline activities.

With an encyclopedic knowledge of his idol, Zhang is the most quotable source when the nation's media need a spokesman who is a Jackson fan. He's hurrahed zealously when attending Jackson-related gatherings, always crowded by other fans wanting his autograph.

"He's the core that glues all the fans together," says Wei Wei, a 27-year-old IT engineer and admirer of Zhang's, having worked for the fan club since 2005. "For some, seeing him is like meeting Michael in person: Jackson is far away, but Zhang comes nearest to our icon."

Growing up with Jackson's songs and accompanying dances, Zhang takes Jackson as his lifelong inspiration and spiritual mentor.

"Michael tells me to see the world with love and tolerance, to change the world for the better, and to persist on my own path in face of any difficulties," he says.

Zhang, who works full time as a senior editor for a portal website under China International Publishing Group, has devoted all his spare time for a decade to introducing Jackson news and reports to the Chinese fans through translating and writing.

"It has been consuming almost all my spare time," he says. "For years I have gotten used to sleeping less than six hours a day. Even occasionally, when I have plenty time for a rest, I'd wake up as usual and think about doing something."

His Michael Jackson journey started in 1994. Then at junior high in Nanchong, Sichuan province, Zhang was taken by the peaceful and idealistic message that Jackson sent in Heal the World when he accidentally borrowed a schoolmate's tape of the album Dangerous. Then he got a booklet of introduction in two-tape box of History, and was overwhelmed by Jackson's triumphs and genius.

He began to collect all he could about Jackson. But his thirst for information was not quenched until he entered Hunan University as an English major. His access to the Internet in college opened a huge mine of information about Jackson.

Later when he found a dearth of the idol's resources in Chinese, Zhang began to render online material into Chinese and posted it on his forum for free sharing.

He spent two to three hours a day doing voluntary translation. His fondness for Jackson, and his knowledge of him, has made him a swift translator so that he's able to finish one or two news stories in an hour, he says.

"If the news keeps coming, I won't stop," he says.

In 2003, Zhang started a tough battle defending Jackson when he was accused of child molestation.

Zhang jokingly says that before that, he knew nothing about the American legal system. But after 2005, he became an expert, when he read and researched everything on the topic so that he could reveal the unbiased truth to the Chinese fans.

He recalls the period as an intensive translation camp because the news was bombing. He even resigned from his job, then in a photo agency, to give all his spare time to the Jackson fan club as the end of the trial drew near.

During the trial he was lucky to find a team of volunteer translators to help ease his burden. He proudly claims that more than 80 percent of the material about Jackson in Chinese is from them.

In April 2005, he received a gold-sealed award certificate from the US for the Chinese fan club's constant support, signed by Jackson.

"I was overjoyed, and immediately got it scanned and posted," he says.

But his greatest pride lies in maintaining the www.mjjcn.com website for years with a team of 30, who are his close friends. Through the site, his deeds for Jackson spread.

Because he is so occupied with doing things for his idol, Zhang's private life sometimes has been unbalanced. In 2009, he was thinking about retiring from the front line of being China's first fan, and hiding away after the final ecstasy of Jackson's London concert, set in July that year.

All that was interrupted by the pop king's sudden death on June 25, 2009.

"I had a bad year," he says. "To me, Michael was a family member. I remember every detail of that day. I've been living quite an unreal life since."

In the past year, Zhang has no choice but to continue his voluntary responsibility with the fans.

"I was pushed again to the top of the tide," he says. "I knew that I was sad, but there are sadder fans in need of support and comfort."

He posted comforting messages and found that "Jackson fans are turning more rational. They used to be very sensitive and the easy-to-be-hurt kind."

Zhang wrote a book in 2009 to memorialize Jackson, which he says will be translated for a Korean edition soon. He also has organized more than 10 fan club activities in Beijing.