Governance, Participation and Resistance in Chinese Fan Culture under Digital Platforms

Abstract

With the rapid development of social media platforms and the high degree of marketization of the idol industry, Chinese fan culture has expanded rapidly and become a youth subculture with high organization, emotional investment and action mobilization capabilities. Based on Foucault's theory of disciplinary power, Jenkins's theory of participatory culture and De Certeau's theory of everyday resistance, this study explores the structural tension between participation and control in contemporary Chinese fan culture, combined with typical fan practice cases. The study found that fan support behavior is centered on "Zhanjie", forming a highly institutionalized self-discipline mobilization model; fan voting behavior is deeply rooted in the logic of capital, transforming emotional labor into economic capital, so that fans gain power and suffer alienation. At the same time, fans circumvent censorship by creatively using coded language, opening up a micro-resistance space under the dual supervision of the state and the platform. National discourse and policies actively shape the normative boundaries of fan culture, platform algorithms as invisible governance tools drive fan behavior, and idol economy institutionalizes fan consumption and strengthens its dual identity as cultural producers and consumers. The study reveals the profound impact of digital governance logic on youth subcultures and provides theoretical inspiration for digital power relations and cultural production mechanisms. However, the research is limited to secondary data and case analysis. In the future, field and longitudinal research should be strengthened and cross-national comparisons should be expanded to deepen the understanding of the dynamics of fan circle culture under different governance environments.