Chinese Fandoms

Chinese fandoms are a growing area of interest attracting attention from groups as diverse as academia, industry, and even government. Although the foci of these groups vary, at the core are questions related to the function, organization, interests, and activities of fan groups. As Chinese media and entertainment industries mature and transnational collaborations increase, content and celebrity figures both inside and outside the Chinese context are increasingly distributed, consumed, and implicated in the formation (or extension) of fan communities.

In the Chinese context, the development of platforms fosters the growth of various fan cultures. Examples include the different fandoms and associated cultures coexisting on the video platform Bilibili. Its original user base of ACG fans has been expanded to include entrepreneurs, celebrities, and influencers, leading to a diversification of content, cultures, and uses that in turn often results in conflict between subcultural groups of new and old users.

This special issue of TWC seeks papers reflecting on the changing nature of fandom in China and on the role of Chinese fans transcending national boundaries. It asks questions regarding the characteristics of Chinese fans/fans of Chinese media in the contemporary globalized media landscape, and it queries the impact that the media industry has on the formation and ongoing expression of fan cultures.

We welcome both longer conceptual pieces (6,000–8,000 words), case studies (5,000–7,000 words), and shorter symposium pieces (1,500–2,500 words), which might include editorials, reflections, commentaries, synopses of relevant earlier research, and so forth.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

            * Transcultural fandom: Chinese fans of imported film and television, and

            international fans of Chinese film and television.

            * Diaspora and fandom.

* Platforms and fan cultures: Bilibili, iQiyi, Youku-Tudou, Tencent.

* Media content and fan cultures: Uploaders, influencers, vloggers, ACG, sports

commentators, e-sports.

* Conflict and fan cultures: Flame wars, fans, and antifans.

            * Methodology and fan cultures: Ethnographic, big data, and textual approaches.

Submission Guidelines

Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international, peer-reviewed, online Gold Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works, copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and to promote dialogue between the academic community and the fan community. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms that embrace the technical possibilities of the Web and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.

            Theory: Conceptual essays. Peer review. 6,000–8,000 words.
            Praxis: Case study essays. Peer review. 5,000–7,000 words.
            Symposium: Short commentary. Editorial review. 1,500–2,500 words.

Please visit TWC's Web site (http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail the TWC Editor (editor@transformativeworks.org).

Contact—Contact guest editors Zhen Troy Chen and Celia Lam with submissions, questions, or inquiries at zhen.chen@nottingham.edu.cn and celia.lam@nottingham.edu.cn.

Due dates— January 1, 2022, for March 2023 publication.