Chinese ‘mother fans’ dote on their top teen band
BEIJING: Liang Shanshan considers herself a mother of two: one child is her biological son, the other is a 16-year-old Chinese teen pop star she has never met.
She is a “mother fan” and part of a group of women in their mid-20s to 60s whose maternal instincts are set off by China’s boy band sensation TFBoys (“The Fighting Boys”).
The band has won millions of Chinese followers since their 2013 debut, rapidly amassing a following ardent enough to buy a giant ad in New York’s Times Square for a band member’s birthday.
Liang insists her feelings are no fleeting fancy: just like a real mother, her devotion to TFBoys’ singer Roy Wang (Wang Yuan) is unwavering.
“Our fandom isn’t shallow,” she explains, adding: “I intend to follow him through his entire career.”
While tween fans are attracted to the teenagers’ boyish good looks, Liang and her friends are drawn to their cherubic personas and wholesome values, with songs that explore the trials of growing up ( Practice Book for Youth, Imperfect Kid).
Some, like 24-year-old Yang Andan, even make annual pilgrimages to Wang’s hometown of Chongqing in southern Sichuan province.
“The more I learn about (Wang), the more I like him,” Yang said.
Liang’s family has embraced her fandom. Her four-year-old refers to TFBoys as his “big brothers,” and her husband accompanies her to concerts to see Wang, describing him as their “kid”.
Anthony Fung, a University of Hong Kong Chinese professor who studies pop culture, said this trend of mothers who “worship young idols” began with teen stars of Korean dramas, which are hugely popular in China.
TFBoys are “quite Korean in aesthetics”, he pointed out, adding that so-called mother fans are “repeating the same kind of relationship where they will follow an idol ... from the beginning to the end”.
“They love that kind of healthy, cute boy image,” he explained.
Nearly a quarter of TFBoys fans are at least 30 years old – double the band members’ age, according to a survey by Chinese media giant Sina.
Fung says in some cases the obsession with TFBoys is a symp- tom of empty nest syndrome.
“The older fans may have kids who are grown up, so now they’re looking for someone else to be at the centre of their attention,” he said.
Affluent Chinese women, many of whom have only one child to spoil, thanks to decades of the onechild policy, are more than happy to splash out on their celebrity kids. — AFP