‘Mingren are the respectable ones’: an analysis of everyday engagements with contemporary celebrity culture in China

ABSTRACT

To investigate the values and social norms underpinning celebrity culture, it is crucial to study everyday uses of celebrity culture. Yet, studies in this area have been limited thus far, especially in non-Western contexts. This exploratory study focuses on the ways how young and middle-aged adults in everyday life in urban China discuss and value media celebrities. The results show that respondents have a rather similar way of valuing celebrity: celebrities need to have strong work ethics and showcase social responsibility; only then do they ‘earn’ their right to be considered ‘famous’. We conclude that these values are closely related to the current socio-cultural situation of China’s social transformation and echo the value system promoted by the Chinese government.

KEYWORDS:

• Celebrity
• audience
• fame
• China’s celebrity culture
• cultural values

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was carried out with the financial support of the China Scholarship Council.

Notes on contributors

Min Xu

Min Xu is a PhD candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research interests revolve around empirical studies on the ritualised practices in the Chinese film industry.

Stijn Reijnders

Prof. Stijn Reijnders is Professor of Cultural Heritage at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research focuses on the intersection of media, culture and tourism. Currently he leads two large, international research projects funded by the Dutch Science Foundation and the European Research Council. He has published many research papers and two monographs entitled Holland op de Helling (2006) – recipient of the national NeSCoR dissertation award – and Places of the Imagination. Media, Tourism, Culture (2011). In addition, Reijnders has co-edited The Ashgate Research Companion to Fan Cultures (2014) and Film Tourism in Asia: Evolution, Transformation and Trajectory (2018).

Sangkyun Kim

Dr. Sangkyun Kim is Associate Professor of Tourism at the School of Business and Law in Edith Cowan University. His work is international and interdisciplinary at the boundaries of social psychology, cultural studies, media studies, geography, and tourism. He is on the editorial boards of international leading tourism journals such as Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing and Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. He is an editor of Film Tourism in Asia: Evolution, Transformation and Trajectory (2018) and Food Tourism in Asia (2019). He is a Visiting Professor at the School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam.