Language, Celebrity Fandom, and Political Activism in Chinese Media

Battling for Idols Online

By: Mingyi Hou

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Paperback | 20 July 2026 | Edition Number 1

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132 Pages

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21.59 x 13.97 x 0.71

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This book examines antagonistic fan communication on Chinese social media, focusing on the sociolinguistic dimensions and digital strategies in fandom discourse of Chinese celebrities to engage in broader questions around language, social media, and fan culture.

The volume explores the different factors which contribute to antagonism in these contexts, including competitive fan posting meant to boost celebritiesâ positive publicity, but also at fansâ communicative practices themselves. Adopting an action-centered sociolinguistic framework, Hou considers how antagonistic fan communication transforms as fansâ engagement with digital technologies transforms and their experience with mediated content deepens. The book takes an in-depth look into how fans use a mix of verbal aggressions, such as trolling, with savvy digital tools, such as identity masking and memes to avoid content removal, in order to mobilize, collaborate, and communicate on a wider scale and, often times, funnel those energies into digital activism events. Hou shows how the study of such discourses can not only reveal fresh insights into the state of fandom culture and political communication online but also directions for future research on language and social media.

This book will be of interest to scholars in digital communication, sociolinguistics, digital media studies, discourse analysis, and celebrity studies.

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