Idolation through compassion

Fan clubs of famous personalities in China draw praise with their efforts in helping Wuhan battle the ongoing novel coronavirus epidemic

Idol fan clubs are typically associated with screaming teenyboppers, colorful placards and flickering neon light sticks, but some of these groups in China have shown that being a part of such a collective is no frivolous matter.

Dubbed Fanquan Girls,which refers to online female fans who are active in social causes, these groups have been helping to provide humanitarian aid to the locked down city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China.

In fact, the fan club for Zhang Yixing, a Chinese singer-songwriter, recently stunned the public for being among the first to deliver donations of medical supplies – about 10,000 medical gloves and 18,000 face masks – to the city.

Guo Lijie is among the 200 or so fans who are a part of this initiative. Together, they raised more than 20,000 yuan ($2,856) to purchase and deliver the medical supplies, all in the name of their idol.

"Our idol loves public welfare. We want to promote his spirit through our love for him. On the other hand, the influence of idols is much greater than an individual," said Guo.

Guo is not the typical fan girl. Besides being a medical practitioner, the 47-year-old also operates the Little Sister Love Xing's Public Welfare Paradise, a 200-member public welfare group dedicated to helping the underprivileged, such as those living in nursing homes and children with leukemia.

"Zhang struck me as a very simple, hardworking young man who promotes charity. I felt that my will to help others was rekindled and hence decided to follow him," said Guo, who manages a WeChat group of Zhang's fans.

"We get a sense of satisfaction when helping others as members of Zhang's fan group. Most of the members in my chat group were born in the 1960s and 1970s. Zhang is much younger than us, but we admire his spirit of doing public welfare."

No time wasted

According to Guo, the fan club kickstarted their humanitarian efforts on Jan 23, the day Wuhan was locked down in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The first step the group took was to broadcast a notice on Weibo calling for fans to donate face masks.

Guo even resorted to seeking advice from more experienced public welfare organizations, medical staff and even overseas channels to find out how she could best collect the required supplies. Among the organizations she spoke to was the Zhejiang Women and Children's Foundation, which alerted her to a reliable vendor of disposable gloves.

"I quickly launched an emergency fund-raising campaign among the fans. Seventy-two people in our group raised more than 8,000 yuan and we used the money to purchase 10,000 pairs of gloves – that was our first batch of donations. The donation was received by the China Resources and WISCO General Hospital in Wuhan on Feb 1," said Guo.

Guo then set up another WeChat group for followers of the Little Sister Love Xing's Public Welfare Paradise to raise funds to buy face masks. About 23,770 yuan was collected through this group, and the cash was used to order 18,000 masks. To ensure that the donation process was transparent, Guo documented each step of the process, allowing fans in the group to view how much money was donated from each person as well as the goods that were being purchased.

A few days later, Guo took the unprecedented step of working with more than 100 other fan groups, including those of sporting stars and actors, to maximize the collection of resources. She was now overseeing a humanitarian effort that spanned more than 1,000 people

"We never used to cooperate with the fans of other idols. But this time round, we worked together to get information and resources, raise supplies, find matching hospitals. It wasn't unusual for us to work until 3 o'clock in the morning," she said.

"I think the Fanquan Girls would like to prove themselves and show the power of being a fan. Being recognized and appraised by society is also a kind of motivation for me and other fans."

Power of the collective

The Fanquan Girls movement originated a few years ago, in tandem with the social media boom and as a means of shoring up their respective idol's reputation through public welfare.

The community gained recognition last summer when it joined Di Bar, a community of online Chinese from across the globe, to hit back at the secessionist forces and rioters in Hong Kong by flooding overseas social media platforms with memes, slogans and posters in Chinese and English. The content uploaded was aimed at highlighting the distortion of facts and the disruptive methods used to create chaos in Hong Kong society.

Their emphatic assistance of those affected by the epidemic in Wuhan has also gained social recognition. Guo said that these efforts were largely made possible because Fanquan Girls, who are located across the country, boast a wide network that allows them to discover and access resources quickly.

Zhang's fans weren't the only ones getting in on the action. The fan club of Chinese actor Zhu Yilong on Jan 21 announced that it was aiming to collect 200,000 masks, 200,000 disposable sterilized cotton sheets and 1,000 sanitizers for public workers and tourists to use in public areas for free. When the fan club's donation channel was open, 10,508 fans donated about 179,000 yuan within 20 minutes. All the required supplies were bought and sent to Wuhan the next day.

The fans of singer and actor Cai Xukun had also kickstarted their humanitarian efforts on Jan 23. Online user Xiaolei, who hails from King Street, one of Zhu's fan groups, told Tencent News that it was fans instead of his friends who supported his idea of raising funds to help Wuhan.

Within a day, three members of King Street identified medical equipment suppliers, placed orders and coordinated delivery of these supplies to hospitals. Four days later, the first batch of medical supplies from King Street reached Wuhan. Till date, the group has donated some 30,000 medical masks and 250 sets of protective suits.

“The biggest advantage of the Fanquan Girls is that our members are distributed all over the country. In our circle, which generates power with love, we trust each other even though we might have never met before. This is one of the most representative characteristics of our group,” Xiao K, a fan of crosstalk comedian Zhang Yunlei, told Tencent News.