Kris Wu’s Case Sheds Light on Frenzied Fan Culture
Kris Wu’s (吳亦凡) entertainment career may be over since his arrest on rape charges, but a group of frenzied fans are still eager to “save” their idol and even hatched “prison break” plans. With Kris’ case still under investigation, it is inevitable that authorities will continue to crack down on the rabid fan culture that has developed over the last decade in China.
The 30-year-old Canadian Chinese singer was detained by police in Beijing July 31, and formally arrested on August 16. Attempting to “erase” his influence on the masses, authorities have shut down Kris’ social media accounts and removed all his music, films, and television works from Chinese platforms.
CCTV recently exposed Kris’s crazy fans in hopes of stopping their inappropriate behaviors. In 2019, there were over 30 cases of defamation toward other artistes and public figures. From the people who were caught, 70 percent of them were under the ages of 30 years old. The defamation cases involved insults and use of foul languages, as well as fabricating information and spreading rumors.
In some fan circles, certain management companies take pride in pitting fans of different artistes against each other and encouraging them to raise funds together to buy products and support the idols. Many management companies use this as a method to increase public exposure for the celebrities as well.
Some nicknamed as “leaders” in fan groups received access to private and personal information such as the idol’s ID card number. In chatrooms, these “leaders” are seen selling the information for small amounts of money between 5 to 10 Chinese yuan.
When celebrating their idols’ birthdays, fans also pool together money to buy lavish and expensive gifts such as designer handbags, clothes, and jewelry. Aside from gifts, whenever the idol is involved in sponsoring a product or appears on the cover of a magazine, the “leaders” collect funds to purchase massive amounts of the products for support.
Some fans are called “professional fans” whose sole purpose is to raise funds for the idol, and continuously influence other fans to spend money.
CCTV revealed that a whopping total of CNY 150 million was spent by fans to support their idols for a particular talent competition show this past March.
Source: HK01
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
Crazy Fans….must be such a sad life for those who get pleasure by idolising stars and revolve their lives/money round the stars.
@Hohliu Totally agree with you. Very short,
LOL, but well said
I do not agree with countless things in China, but It is a welcomed relief that the Chinese government is doing something, finally, to combat such insane behaviour. I always thought it is up to the parents, aunts, uncles, older cousins etc to inform the younger generation not to worship these celebrities, but sadly, the older folks are involved in such ridiculous behaviour too with their idols. The blind cannot lead the blind.
This has gotten out of hand, hopefully, censorship of these rabid fans’ accounts can be a sort of a consolation. I blame everyone involved for this over the top antics, the government, the parents and other family members, the agencies, crews, media, fans, and the crlrbrities themselves. It is morst disheartening to read of these people being called hevenly kings, gods and goddesses. We have no such people on this earth, no matter how much good they do. When the newer generation hears that, they conceive the idea thzt these celebrities are such and should be worshipped. I was actually told that recently by a 19 year old. Her parents also worship their ifols too, which includes one of the so called heavenly kings. Unfortunately, this senseless idle, idol worshipping will continue, as these restless, delusional fans are seeking a purpose in life, and believe these celebrities are that purpose. How pathetically sad.
We need an edit button here.
Celebrities, that, idols.
@Renren I too agree with you…Long but well put together. This culture is definitely beyond the under 21s. Even the older populations are involved. To be honest, ‘i have liked some idols throughout all my life but there have not been one I actually idolised. My life is just too busy to offer too much attention to a stranger…
@Hohliu thanks, lol. There are some celebs I too respect and support. Some younger, some older. However, they have not made any celebrities yet that I want to worship or live my life vicariously through. They provide my entertainment, not my life force. The young fans nowadays have gone boinkers. This fan censorship needs to be extended to all countries.
Hohliu, happy Mid-Autumn Festival. That goes to Jayne, her staff and all who post here.
@Renren Thanks and Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you and your family as well!
The title of heavenly kings had an earlier history in HK in the 1980s when the foursome Andy Lau, Leon Lai, Aaron Kwok and Jackie Cheung were hot HK stars. Fans and entertainment media in China adopted such exalted titles like gods and goddesses when their age of idols worship began some root 10 years ago.
full on authoritarian when things get out of control….
That is the problem. The media and fans giving these mere mortals such exalted titles. No one should be given such exalted titles, no matter how ri h, famous or well bred they are. The queen of England is not referred to as the heavenly queen, cause she is not. Princess Diana was not called a godess cause she was nit. You give these celebrities these titles and they act as such. The gullible fans worship them cause they see them as exalted dietyes. They are celebrities, not stars. Stars are in the sky. A lot of the craziness is the fault of the media, fans , the celebrities and their handlers. It has gotten way out of hand and will be difficult, if not impossible to curb this idol worshipping. There is no excuse for labelling celebrities as heavenly kings, gods and godesses, none whatsoever.
Names are just names, basically a compliment, but agree with you that they should not be treated like royalty or above other people. These fans really need to get a life.