Parakinship as Care or Harm: Understanding Fan Aggression in Chinese Digital Fandom through the Esther Yu Case 301 views

This thesis examines how fan attachment within Chinese idol culture can transform into online aggression through the case of Esther Yu’s “tissue-passing incident” (递纸事件). I argue that fan aggression emerges from the structures of contemporary fandom. Drawing on theories of parasocial relationships, parakinship, co-growth, and platform affordances, the paper explores how fans come to experience an idol’s career as emotionally intertwined with their own on career. In Chinese digital fandoms, fans do not consume celebrity culture, they actively participate in it. As a result, criticism directed at the idol is often interpreted as a threat to their shared emotional investment and collective identity. Using Esther Yu as a case study, this thesis analyzes how a brief interaction during Youth With You 2 was reframed into a large-scale controversy across Weibo and Douyin. Through qualitative discourse analysis of fan comments, reposts, and public responses, this project finds that many fans framed their harassment of the critic as justified protection rather than harm. By combining written analysis with a screen-life video essay told from the perspective of a fan, this project demonstrates how parasocial and parakin relationships make the boundary between care and harm increasingly difficult to distinguish.

MA (Master of Arts)

Parasocial Relationships; Co-Growth; Parkinship; Weibo; Douyin

English

2026-04-29