Remember #ZhaoWei? If you live in #China, the answer is "I've never known that name." A celebrity close with #JackMa has been "vapourized", as #GeorgeOrwell would say. On the morning of 27 August, her social media pages were gone, all her works (drama series and films) were removed, her "friends" deleted pictures with her. All of a sudden, we're supposed to pretend that she never existed. Naturally, people can talk of no one and nothing but her virtual disappearance.
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We may never know what has happened, but there is a trend of #CCP banning celebrity culture. More on this later.
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#China #Orwell #NineteenEightyFour #dystopia #socialmedia #weibo

Why do people become devoted to any community? Because they feel that their actions and presence make an impact there, it gives them a sense of belonging. Since the #CCP has a grip on every facet of life in #China, there is precious little #Chinese people can actually control in real life - political and social participation is at best meaningless, at worst - well, just take a look at #HongKong. One of the reasons people direct their energy to online fan communities is because they don't feel like a stakeholder of their society, celebrity culture is a little like morphine. Its world is not exactly real, but you have a say in it, you feel good, you numb yourself from real life problems. And now #XiJinping is taking that away? Where will a whole generation of people channel their frustration? Is it a time bomb?
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#fandom #fancommunities #ZhengShuang #ZhaoWei #ZhangZhehan #celebrity #celebrityculture