China’s devoted, combative celebrity fan clubs

“THE UNTAMED”, a costume martial-arts drama, is one of the most-watched television series in China. Since its online release last year it has been viewed 8bn times. Its heart-throb star, Xiao Zhan (pictured), has gained a legion of fans. In October so many of them crowded an airport in Beijing to see him that they delayed a flight.

In February Mr Xiao’s devotees flooded the internet with complaints about a website hosting raunchy fiction about him. The government shut it down. In May a video went viral of a classroom full of primary-school students chanting: “Brother Xiao Zhan, you are very good!” The teacher who filmed them was suspended.

Mr Xiao’s millions of admirers belong to what are known in Chinese as fanquan, or “meal circles” (because the word for meal sounds like the English word “fan”). These are passionate and sometimes combative online groups devoted to particular celebrities. The Chinese government has long demanded patriotism and good behaviour from stars, but it has placed few limits on fans. On the internet, where debate and organising are usually tightly controlled, fanquan enjoy rare freedom to do both.

But as fanquan have grown, so too has official scrutiny of them. State media have criticised their “irrational” behaviour...