Chinese singer Cai Xukun from Nine Percent Photo: IC
The Chinese public and official organizations strongly condemned fans of several young celebrities for quoting a humiliating unequal treaty forced on the country by invaders during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to worship their idols, calling for historical education and punishment for those involved.
"You are my 'Treaty of Nanking,' the beginning of my fall," some fans said to express their devotion to their idols on Chinese social media this week, and tagged young celebrities, including singer Cai Xukun, pop band TFBoys' Jackson Yi and actor Zhu Yilong on their Weibo posts. Such posts flooded Weibo and angered many netizens, who demanded that those fans be handed legal and moral punishment.
"How can you joke about a country's wounds and a nation's tragic history? This is the bottom line for a person, a Chinese person," a netizen said using an angry emoji.
Britain launched the Opium War against China in 1840 and forced the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Nanking. Under the treaty, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to Britain. The signing of the treaty had seriously undermined China's sovereignty and independence. It is a bitter memory for Chinese people, and it was an unequal treaty that Chinese people opposed.
Such ridiculous posts have also drawn the ire of official organizations. The Chinese history research institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said on its Weibo late Thursday, "It was a national humiliation and showed hatred, and is not for entertainment." The Communist Youth League of China said on its Weibo that using the nation's wounds to idolize stars was "building your happiness on the suffering of the nation."
Aside from the Treaty of Nanking, historical events were used by some people to create their "love story" for their idols. Sentences like "You are my 'May Fourth Movement,' a past that I cannot get back even if I gave up everything to be the enemy of all people," could also be found on social media.
The May Fourth Movement started with mass student protests on May 4, 1919 against the then-government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles which imposed unfair treatment on China and undermined the country's sovereignty after World War I.
Jiangsu police department said on its Weibo that information sent or provided by any individual or organization cannot contain information prohibited by law or administrative regulations according to national security law.
Zhu Wei, a communication and law analyst, told the Global Times on Friday that those who made such posts on social media may face detention.
This case has again highlighted the subculture in the Chinese entertainment business, as young fans influenced by some entertainment agencies blindly worshipped idols and helped the agencies profit by damaging social ethics, Zhu said.
In recent years, vulgarity and money worship frequently appeared in idolizing celebrities. Some Chinese fans have created vulgar phrases to express their love for their idols, such as "I'm going to ovulate now" suggesting "he is so hot," "I want to give birth to your baby" and "I can't stop opening my legs." Such expressions were linked to some of the most popular Chinese idols, including pop singers Kris Wu and Lu Han.
Not just fans, some young male celebrities were also lambasted for being effeminate, who were called by Chinese netizens "sissy boys" only interested in slender figures and make-up, instead of pursuing positive and healthy images.
Zhu said that the cyberspace administration, police, social media platforms and even schools and parents should work together to crack down on the fans' illegal activities and properly guide young people.