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ABSTRACT
Yiman Wang’s 2007 chapter investigates Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung’s enormous fandom during the first few years after his suicide in 2003. Seventeen years have passed but Cheung’s posthumous fandom has continued to grow, passing onto younger generations and forming a unique cross-border cultural phenomenon. This article presents a case study of a local fan site in Chengdu, China, Zhongqing Café, its owner Mr Lv, and its fan community. Based on data I collected on a visit to the Café in 2019 and my observation of its social media activities, the article examines how the Café functions as a cultural, economic, social, and familial space for local and trans-local Leslie fans. It offers a glimpse into Cheung’s posthumous fandom in Mainland China from affective, creative, economic, political, generational and identificatory perspectives. The article draws attention to the emergence of fan-entrepreneurs and their significant role in sustaining stars’ posthumous fame. It also highlights the process of deification, normalisation and depoliticisation in young Chinese fans’ consumption of Cheung, and argues this should be understood in relation to their need to build individual and collective identities within China’s current social and political context.
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to my university friends – Cheng Min, Gao Xiuyao, Ma Jian, Yang Lei – who accompanied me to attend Cheung’s 63rd posthumous birthday party in Zhongqing Café in Chengdu, and witnessed my journey of being a Leslie fan, from a young student in China to a middle-aged scholar in the UK. I would also like to thank Mr Lv Xiaochuan, the owner of the Café, for accepting my interview and for creating this memorable Leslie fan site.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. See, for example, https://www.yidianzixun.com/article/0RghtynC?s=1&appid=jingdian, as evidence of Cheung’s popularity in Japan.
2. For example, Korean Music Festival in 2013 was opened with a popular Korean film star singing together with Cheung on screen one of Cheung’s popular songs ‘Years of Love’.
3. On the last day of 2009, Radio Television Hong Kong announced ‘Welcome to 2010, the reason Hong Kong people love Hong Kong’. The result of the ballot was that ‘With Leslie Cheung’ ranked number one.
4. Cheung claimed his dream was to run a café; he opened a café of the same name in 1996 and closed it down in 2001.
5. ‘Positive energy’ is a political slogan that has been advocated by Chairman Xi Jinping.
6. This was reportedly due to his suffering from malicious attacks from the fans of another pop star Alan Tam.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sabrina Qiong Yu
Sabrina Qiong Yu is Senior Lecturer in Chinese and Film at Newcastle University, UK. Her research and publications focus on Chinese-language films, stardom and performance, gender and sexuality, and audience/reception studies. She is the author of Jet Li: Chinese Masculinity and Transnational Film Stardom (2012, 2015) and the editor, with Guy Austin, of Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods (2017, 2018). She is Principal Investigator of a four-year project (2019-2023) on Chinese independent cinema, funded by UK Arts & Humanities Research Council, and Founder of Chinese Independent Film Archive, located in Newcastle upon Tyne.