Current Events > China 'fangirls' defend regime online

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-09/-fangirls-defend-china-from-hong-kong-protesters-and-the-world

Ever since anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong turned violent this summer, Chinas celebrity-obsessed young generation have patrolled Facebook, Twitter and Weibo, ready to pounce on perceived slights and defend their motherland. Nicknamed fangirls because they exhibit the same fervor most often reserved for pop-culture icons, these women and men flood social media with slogans and memes shaming brands -- sometimes with far-reaching consequences.

Fangirls called out Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey for supporting Hong Kong protesters, prompting Chinas state broadcaster to drop National Basketball Association games. They triggered boycotts of brands from Coach to Apple. Many got swept up by Facebook and Twitter account takedowns. And in a recent incident, the onslaught of vitriol they directed at Hong Kong pop-star Joey Yung forced her to apologize for a single Facebook selfie, but not before she got canned from a high-profile gala.
The Hong Kong unrest spurred Li into action. She quickly picked up typical fangirl behavior -- endlessly liking and re-posting trending anti-protest diatribes on Weibo for example -- encouraged that hundreds of thousands shared her values. I couldnt remain silent any longer, the 28-year-old said. I dont idolize anyone, I only idolize China.

While many Westerners, particularly Americans, see Chinas citizens as forced into supporting Beijing or muzzled from expressing their true feelings, fangirls suggest more earnest and resilient backing for their countrys government. They show how large pockets of Chinas youth are rising up to defend their country against what they perceive as mistreatment and misrepresentation by outsiders, and they underscore a growing sentiment thats shaping how China interacts with the world.

Chinas government has increasingly taken its propaganda efforts overseas, but fangirls deep convictions set them apart -- and perhaps make them more potent -- from often wooden, state-sponsored online commentators. Known as wumao, or the 50-cent army, those bloggers are named after the amount they are said to make from each patriotic posting.

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supposedly a large reason for their patriotism is their culture's shared shame from the period when China was ruled by the west. I think they call it something like "the century of humiliation". and a lot of the stuff China does now is to get revenge for that. revenge on the west. Many Chinese people even if they otherwise might be bothered by some of the stuff Beijing does, will suck it up to help out their people in taking that revenge. basically they see us as worse than Bejing. so they side with Beijing