Why China’s Olympic stars are hiding from fans

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Fan groups spend lavishly on products endorsed by their idols, deploy bots to ensure their favourites stay atop social media trending lists and even mount harassment campaigns against other stars and their supporters. Some fans stalk their idols and sell their photos or personal information.

At first, the obsession was directed mostly at actors and musicians. But in recent years, it has turned to athletes too.

A commentary in People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, accused some fans of “losing their rationality”.

fans, many of them young, are lonely and seeking community...China’s rapid economic development and urbanisation had created a “new generation of atomised individuals”...“In the internet era...fan culture allows them to “fill the void”.