OUR STARS, which art in heaven

THE RISE OF THE INTERNET AND social media have narrowed the distance between fan clubs and those they idol. This intimacy - if a relationship mediated by technology can be said to be intimate - has given rise to a star clan culture in China propelled by a swarm of reality TV and internet shows in which celebrity and celebrities are venerated.

Two years ago the pop singer and actor Wang Yibo was barely known to Xueke (not her real name), 23, who had begun working in a news portal in Beijing. Xueke then came across the TV series The Untamed last year, in which Wang played the leading role. She ended up watching all 50 episodes in the series and then started to hunt down everything else Wang, 22, had played in. Now a lot of her spare time is devoted to keeping tabs on him, a lot of that tracking down information on him on the internet.

"What attracted me most about him was his character," Xueke says. "I reckon many people who like him feel the same way. He's not out there just trying to please everybody. These days everybody has become obsessed with fame and money, talking a lot of crap and sucking up to people with their empty words, and here he is, just being himself. That's his most invaluable trait."

Xueke, who graduated from university two years ago, says that she has an average annual salary, at least 10,000 yuan ($1,400) of which is spent annually supporting her idol.
In Weibo, an important channel through which fans can express their support for those they follow, the priority is to maintain the idol's popularity and visibility by pumping up chatter about him.

Stars have a "super topic" named after them individually. Using a name followed by a hashtag is a simple way of bringing fans together. Each fan has his or her own title, with different levels. For example, level one denotes a junior fan and level eight denotes someone who is very loyal. Xueke has reached level 10 in the super topic rankings.

Each level also reflects the amount of engagement a fan has had with the super topic section. To accumulate these points you need to insist on doing tasks every day that will promote the idol. For example, level 12 requires 6,000 points, and to reach level 13 you need 10,000 points.

Any time anyone signs into the super topic section they are awarded four points. Signing in for between two and 29 consecutive days delivers six points for each of those days, and signing in for more than 30 days continuously delivers eight points for each day.

Xueke has signed into Wang's super topic every day for more than 10 months, delivering her 24,000 points. The highest level, 18, requires 300,000 points, which once acquired bestows on the holder the title of Spiritual Leader. Among millions of fans this reflects the absolute pinnacle of loyalty to their idol, which is why it is so coveted.

Xueke says those uninitiated to the star clan culture tend to look down on its adherents as stupid and obsessive, something she dismisses as mere prejudice.

Aiman, one of the main survey platforms that monitors China's celebrity data, published what it called a Youth Interest Social White Paper last year, according to which 88.7 percent of young social media users have idols they follow closely. In 2018 alone entertainment star-related topics attracted 16.7 billion views on Weibo, where nearly 75 million fans were said to have been active throughout the year. In 2018 Wang Yibo began working for the Chinese reality television show Produce 101 as a dance instructor. The show's 10-episode season drew 4.3 billion views on Tencent Video.

"Older people can still find in these girls a shadow of the star-chasers they used to be themselves," says Guo Xin, a marketing professor at Beijing Technology and Business University.

"The difference is that the psychological mechanism has shifted from self-projection onto the idol to maintaining intimacy with the idol, which is why many of those who chased pop stars when they were young now regard these young girls not as fans but as fanatics."

The bar has been raised for anyone who wants to join the star clan with rising popularity of their idol. Knowing and using arcane language such as AWSL (short for a wo si le, I've just died a little) is but one requisite.

Those who devote their lives to being fans become very versatile people. They can plan, edit, and understand the operations in their self-organized support groups, doing all the publicity including "anti-tarnishing" tracking that is sometimes superior to what PR companies do in this field. Anti-tarnishing consists of mounting publicity campaigns aimed at countering anything negative that has been said about a star. Fandom has also created job titles, such as that of the "cannon sister", a fan who hauls professional photography equipment around with them, ready to make a dash to any place, such as an airport, where an idol has appeared or is about to appear.

A "station sister" is the manager of a fan support group in a particular city.

They have a deft touch in working on high-definition images of their idol, lovingly applying filters here and there that will show him or her in their best light and doing so at lightning speed. They rush to distribute support material at idol event venues and monitor the way the idol's fan page is operating across various online platforms. They also have a keen ear and eye for spotting any incoming negative traffic, produced by an idol's detractors, those who are regarded as not up to scratch in their loyalty or, at the other end of the scale, fans who might be regarded as stalkers.

Star clans are dominated by those who are aged 30 years or under, and 71.2 percent of active fans are between 20 and 29, Aiman says. About 61 percent of them are women, 77 percent with a bachelor's degree or better.

These clans have established a strong foothold in Weibo, but they are also active in social platforms such as Tieba, Douban and Zhihu.

The clan culture has spawned great diversity among fans. Aiman says that 94 percent of its adherents are "only fans" (those loyal to one star) and "rational fans" (those who can accept criticism of their idol's shortcomings), the two subclasses overlapping. Other categories include "mom fans" (who treat their idol as their son), sister fans, wife fans, girlfriend fans and so on.

Apart from providing online support, they organize regional fan alliances that have branches in dozens of cities across the country. When a film in which their idol plays comes out they book a specific time slot in a cinema for a private viewing event.

"The clan culture is pushing a boom in the idol economy that has reshaped the traditional entertainment ecology," Guo, the marketing professor, says. "For example, Idol Producer, a boy group survival show broadcast by iQiYi in 2018, allowed fans to take part in creating the idols throughout the whole process and created a sense of presence, participation and pride among fans."

Nowadays, any star talent agency that wishes to be successful needs to pay a lot of attention to establishing partnership with an idol's star clan.

Notwithstanding the success that clan culture is having in projecting positive images of its idols and promoting their careers, not all in the celebrity universe is all sweetness and light. Recently the antics of two teachers in a Chinese elementary school, captured on video, drew widespread condemnation. In the video the teachers, obviously fans of the singer and actor Xiao Zhan, are shown corralling the whole class to dance in honor of their idol.

Following the teacher, the children dance and gesture uniformly to a Xiao song and shout the slogan: "Brother Xiao Zhan, we love you. Fighting!"

The two teachers were criticized for using their positions and their control over the students in the hope of gaining prestige and acclaim in their star clan.

Lin Yumeng, 25, a clan adherent who sees herself as a "reasonable fan", says that to some extent the culture of fandom has become deformed. Part of the problem is peer pressure, she says.

"It may have something to do with the fact that most of the girls are really young, and they are not mature enough to exercise independent judgment. If their opinions differ from those of the popular fans they risk being kicked out of the group."

Negative impressions about clan adherents are based on prejudice, including from people who she says are only too ready to complain about anything.

"I once thought about breaking away from the clan, because star chasing wasn't making me happy. But to a certain extent fandom serves to stimulate the cohesion of fans.

"In fact, I've picked up a lot of communication skills with strangers in the clan. In ordinary life I'm not a social person, but because of the offline activities in our support group I've got to communicate with others who share an interest in my idol. Organizing venues for fan gatherings and negotiating with sponsors has given me a sense of fulfillment."

Contact the writer at zhanglei@chinadaily.com.cn