HELICOPTER FANS: AN EXPOSÉ OF CHINESE FAN CULTURE
China’s military might and economic achievements have led to its growing influence on the global stage. What is less internationally well-known but still equally as impressive however, is its entertainment industry which constitutes a large part of China’s considerable “soft power” today. The economic advancement and social progress China has experienced has affected not only its mainstream society, but also caused Chinese fan culture to evolve into something highly unique and complex that differs from its more well-known South Korean and Western counterparts. More specifically, we are interested to explore the idol-fan power dynamic in Chinese fan culture, and how fans exert excessive control over their idols. We delved deep into a variety of sources - from state media to investigative reports to fan interactions on Weibo - to find out exactly how the various factors, ranging from social to cultural to economic, have given Chinese fans a sense of exclusive entitlement to dictate every aspect of their idols’ lives, therein wielding close to absolute control over them.
Helicopter Fans
EVE, NOT FROM THE RIB: ACCOUNTING FOR PAST AND PRESENT PERCEPTIONS OF FEMALE LEADERSHIP IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Social justice causes today have been working actively to raise awareness on alternative, non-Western forms of liberty. However, majority of the Western world continues to perceive Islam as innately patriarchal. These perceptions are not unfounded: it is true that Islamisation programs in countries like Iran promote laws actively subjugating women in the name of Islam. Yet, amidst this trend, the Islamic world has produced the most modern female heads of state since 1988. More interestingly, hidden in history is the fact that there were also many female leaders in the ancient Islamic world. This project seeks to explain this phenomenon of female leadership in Muslim societies, from ancient past to present day. Examining cases of past and present Muslim female rulers, we compared similarities and differences in socio-political contexts enabling their rise to power. We also looked to two Islamic texts, the Quran and Hadiths, investigating if there is an interpretation that opens up space for female leadership. Ultimately, we found that in Muslim societies, capacity for female leadership depends more on local customs than scholarly theoretical interpretations. The latter serve to substantiate how the legitimacy of female leadership was, and still can be, grounded in Islam.
Eve, Not From the Rib
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ASIA: THE ECONOMICS OF SINO-VIET BRIDE TRAFFICKING
The Sino-Viet Bride Market is a massive billion dollar industry, involving thousands of people across the borders. Vietnamese brides are marketed as commodities, convenient remedies to China’s widening gender imbalance. Thinly veiled, however, is a notorious and growing human- trafficking blemish in South Asia. Our study explores the sociocultural history that has legitimised the transaction of girls and women, and delves into the trafficking hotspot’s complex, yet intriguing economic context. With the lens of trafficking as a trade; we introduce the key question: Why does the economic value of a supplanted bride supersede her value as a woman within society? After analysing the push-and-pull factors on either side of the border, including the vulnerability profile of Vietnamese women and China’s “Missing Women'' phenomenon, we synthesised research with first-hand interview accounts from frontline anti- trafficking organisations and advocates. In doing so, we have formulated our own hypothesis on how NGOs have attempted to resolve this conundrum that faces extensive legislative loopholes, administrative flaws and the regressive expansion of bride trafficking with increasing globalisation.
The Real Housewives of Asia
QUESTIONS
Asked during the Live Symposium
PAST AND PRESENT PERCEPTIONS OF FEMALE LEADERSHIP IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
How has the Saudi-backed Wahhabism led to the role of women in politics in Middle-Eastern countries or Islamic countries?
Our research paper focused on a more feminist reading of Islamic texts rather than present notions of female leadership. It was more about the past than the present. Many individuals are not able to reconcile the existence of female leaders. However, in actuality, there are sections of the Quran and Hadith that make it such that the rise to power of female leaders is both legitimate and expected. At first glance, such sections may not seem very feminist, but in actuality, it’s both legitimate and expected. When we apply this to the present, where there’s a push for greater gender equality and women in power, this factors in how even in the present, in Islamic societies, women can pursue positions of leadership, moreso in the present because it was possible in the past.
As a Muslim woman myself, I am very heartened by your attention to the perceptions of the religion. In your research, do you believe that the texts themselves lead to patriarchal concepts or are there other factors?
Thanks for your question! Based on our research, we definitely believe that patriarchal perceptions in Islam depend more on human interpretations than the texts themselves. We argue that Islam was and is not a monolithic religion, but was fluid and had different interpretations based on local customs.
Are these instances of female leadership in Islam more of exceptions rather than trends? St. Joan isn’t an emblem of female leadership in the Western world.
Thanks for your question! Female leadership in Islam is definitely not an aberration, but it is not frequent enough to be a trend too. To explain the gap between ancient and modern women leaders however, we identified, with Dr. Sher Banu Khan’s help, that women leaders faded from existence in the 17th century due to the institutionalization of the religion by male elites. Thus, revealing trends in our research, we hope that they can reflect new realities that can be imagined for women in the Islamic world.
You mentioned some feminist interpretations of Islam your group offered. What were they?
Thank you, I will just mention 2 interpretations in the interest of time. So our first interpretation is in our title itself, “Eve, not from the Rib”. We found that the whole image of Eve being taken out of Adam’s rib is a Judeo-Christian concept, and was never found in the Quran. Secondly, we also examined 4:34 and new ways of interpreting this very controversial verse. We found that they don’t point to assault per se.
AN EXPOSÉ OF CHINESE FAN CULTURE
How do you think Chinese ideology (mainly communism) has influenced Chinese fan culture?
Charlotte: I think actually what we did was that some research we did showed that the CCP often uses such Chinese fans to create a culture of patriotism within the country and it’s a vicious cycle —> e.g. TFBoys created remix of “We Are The Heirs Of Communism” and they attend a lot of CCP events. Very important for these TFBoys to be popular to continue thriving, so fans support idols for being patriotic, idols become more patriotic, so non-stop increasing nationalism, vicious cycle. This culminated in the Xinjiang cotton controversy where a lot of the Chinese fans posted their support for the Xinjiang cotton even when international brands were announcing boycotts because of alleged human rights violations. In summary, the Chinese government and Communist ideology in China has seeped into fan culture because patriotic fans have been used as a tool to increase nationalism in the country.
Sida: It also has to do with the Communist education, where students are taught about the absolute rights and wrongs, without being allowed critical and holistic judgement. Hence, when they see an idol who do not conform to their ideals, they would exert their control over the idol and force him or her to follow their will. They do so by posting images with big words to accuse the idol of misbehavior - something akin to the “Big character poster” during the Cultural Revolution
What makes Chinese fan culture different from others e.g. Korea or the West?
There are many differences between china and many industries. For one, more closed cybersphere - more closed groups. Sometimes politics get involved also. Many fans from many different countries. Echo Chambers. Specifically on k-pop vs c-pop, case study of produce 101 in Korea and in China - former is that you vote once a day for free while in China you actually pay to vote. Greediness of Chinese businesses but more surprisingly, chinese public quite receptive. Chinese fans exert excessive control while other fans respect idols.
Have the idols said anything about the fan culture perpetuated around their acts?
Celine: Few idols that have mentioned that fans controlled even the most frivolous matters. One idol, ZJY, started a …. Fans wanted to him to start individual career but he expressed to them he wanted to work in a boy band. So yes, it’s been picking up recently
Sida: Previously no, because this is what the idols make a lot of money from! Idols are evn blamed for not managing their fans well (e.g. Xiao Zhan). However, recently there was a Produce 101 incident in which the milk products bought to vote for idols are thrown away. This alerted the state and it started to crack down on fan culture. All talent selection shows are now cancelled, and idols and their companies started to post notices on weibo that they support a healthy fan culture.
Other than economic reasons. Are there social reasons? (For example, why are females more involved in Chinese fan culture?)
It’s not just fans that are particularly crazy. Upon more reading, it’s not just women but specifically to fan culture its more catered to female. For males interest is more like esports and gaming. We attributed alot of the growth to economic growth as it was tightly aligned with China’s economic development. Other factors spiralled out from there.
Sida: Socially, a lack of recognition in school and at work leaves young adults looking for it elsewhere
We wanted to look at factors from education, politics, etc as well, but unfortunately we did not have the word count to do that. I was thinking of how China does not allow democratic elections of a leader, so fans project their need to control/influence something onto idols, using their consumer power. As mentioned above, an education that does not allow critical thinking also contributed to fans’ cancel culture, particularly regarding political leanings, etc. In traditional culture, artistes or 戏子 are on the bottom of China’s social ladder, so we are also eager to explore what contributed to the change. We also looked at how the boundaries of public and private lives are blurred in the Chinese context, with the perpetuation of Communist collectivism and a cultural absence of respect for privacy, which might have led to some fans overstepping their professional boundaries to expose personal information of idols.
THE ECONOMICS OF SINO-VIET BRIDE TRAFFICKING
Why do you think that despite the international concern for human trafficking concerns it stilll exists today?
When we tried to contact primary sources for their opinions, we could only contact organisations or individuals working based in Vietnam. There is legislation and the existence of NGOs in China that’s very lacking. There are human trafficking laws in China but they aren’t very enforced, so it’s very one-sided. Subidiaris of the UN and other NGOs in Vietnam try to tackle gender discrimination and trafficking, but this isn’t followed up very well on China’s side of the border.
We decided on our scope when choosing between a few countries. As part of our research we went to look at local bride suppliers.
What is the market structure of the bride trade? Are there firms or what agents are there?
They tend to go underground. But what we studied is that the close friends or relatives of these brides are the ones who do the trafficking, and they answer to larger organizations.
Are there any specific reasons why Vietnam, as opposed to any other country? What are the stances of both governments regarding this?
1. Geographic
2. Economic
- Share long geographical border with China --> relationship characterised by geography (China demand and viet supply).
- Economically, stark difference between Viet and China.
- Flaws in legislation, traffickers cannot be completely punished for what they do. What the Chinese government has been doing is obscured because of the authoritarian regime. Hence, less well handled in China than in Viet.