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athletes should not be “fan clubized”

"one jump makes her famous, known all over the world." this is no exaggeration to describe the national attention paid to olympic diving champion quan hongchan.

as the youngest "triple gold medalist" in china's olympic history, her hometown, maihe village, zhanjiang city, guangdong province, has also been in the spotlight. quan hongchan's home has now become a check-in "attraction" in maihe village.

recently, quan hongchan went back to the village to visit her family, but was disturbed by various onlookers. related videos appeared on various social platforms. the video showed that the crowd stayed in front of quan hongchan's house for a long time. some flew drones to take aerial photos, and some set up mobile phones to live broadcast and take photos, calling quan hongchan to come out and say hello to everyone. there was even a travel agency that launched a "one-day tour to quan hongchan's hometown" project.

on september 14, china news weekly saw at the scene that a fence had been set up at the door of quan hongchan's home, and there were warning signs saying "no live broadcast, no drone photography, keep quiet, no loud noises." among the onlookers were parents who brought their children to check in, even study tour groups, and tourists from all over the world. they were either fans, or simply wanted to post a "champion's circle of friends", and many people wanted to attract traffic to their own accounts.

faced with the long-lasting onlookers, quan hongchan's father was very helpless. he told china newsweek, "i don't know what to say."

who is watching quan hongchan

maihe village is located in mazhang town, mazhang district, zhanjiang city, guangdong province. drive about three kilometers from zhanjiang west station to the entrance of maihe village.

unlike other villages along the way, maihe village has a village sign with the olympic five-ring logo and a poster of quan hongchan winning the gold medal at the paris olympics at the entrance, attracting a constant stream of people coming to take photos and check in. according to villagers, the five-ring village sign has been there since quan hongchan won the gold medal at the tokyo olympics a few years ago.

at 10 p.m. on september 14, a parent who had just arrived at maihe village asked his child to take a photo in front of the signboard even after learning that it was too late to enter the village. "what a rare opportunity! i can write about it in my composition in the future."

september 14th was the third day since quan hongchan returned home. the enthusiasm of the people who came to watch remained unabated. starting at 7 o'clock in the evening, they held up their mobile phones towards quan hongchan's room, looking forward to her first appearance of the day.

quan hongchan and her grandfather greet the onlookers. photo by zhao yumeng

"wow, quan hongchan! chanbao! come down, come down!" quan hongchan carried her relative's child into a room on the second floor, and then quan hongchan and her sister walked out of the first floor. cheers rang out again, and people followed closely, swarming forward, fearing to miss the clearest shot. when she entered the room on the first floor, an experienced onlooker in the crowd said, "you can go now, she wants to eat."

a fan in her 50s from maoming, guangdong, stood out in the crowd with a bouquet of roses in her hand. when she learned that she couldn't hand the flowers to quan hongchan in person, she felt very sorry, "i like her so much, i watched her competition, and i wanted to come and see the champion in person."

another zhanjiang mother, jiang yu, took advantage of the mid-autumn festival holiday to bring her two children to see their idol. when quan hongchan flashed past her from the room, the children were very excited, "mom, i saw chanbao!"

jiang yu said, "just watch, don't bother others." the children attended every olympic games. encouraged by quan hongchan, she plans to enroll her son in a swimming class to start with swimming. as for whether to pursue professional diving, jiang yu said she couldn't bear to do so.

many parents brought their children to learn the olympic spirit, and some parents said they wanted to bring some good luck to their children. a villager revealed that an old man had come to grab a handful of leaves from the phoenix tree in front of quan hongchan's house and took them home to pray for good luck.

qu qing brought her children to chase stars with her. on the afternoon of september 15, it was drizzling in maihe village. when quan hongchan walked out of the second-floor room holding a child, qu qing held up her mobile phone and shouted, "hello quan hongchan, please look down!"

suddenly, qu qing heard someone shouting, "he's going to the back door!" she immediately threw down her umbrella, held up her phone, and ran with the crowd to the back door of quan hongchan's house at the speed of a 100-meter sprint. because she ran fast, she got the first row. the rain was getting heavier, but qu qing didn't take her eyes off. she zoomed in the camera and kept saying, "where are they?"

in the end, she never got the first-hand video.

li fang, a "fan" who happened to be waiting at the intersection, took first-hand video.

as there were too many people blocking the back door, quan hongchan ran to the car with her child in her arms, escorted by security personnel, relatives and friends. some onlookers tried to hold her back, but quan hongchan was afraid that the child in her arms would be squeezed, so she shouted "don't move".

li fang happened to capture this scene. before she could recover, she was quickly surrounded by fans who followed her from the back door and asked her to share the video, "otherwise everyone's trip today would have been in vain."

people kept urging her to add friends, create wechat groups face to face, and share group qr codes. some people also kept reaching out to help her operate the phone. she wanted to leave but couldn't. someone sighed, "you are the second quan hongchan."

fans are "helping" li fang to send the original video. photo by zhao yumeng

qu qing, who was standing by, also reminded, "don't post it on social media platforms randomly, just post it in the group for your own use." everyone agreed. but the video immediately appeared on various social media platforms and was forwarded crazily.

seeing fans so "crazy", pei hang, who came to check in and post on wechat moments, didn't quite understand. he works in downtown zhanjiang and took advantage of the mid-autumn festival holiday to check in at quan hongchan's home with his friends. pei hang admitted that he admired and appreciated quan hongchan, but he was not yet a "fan". he just hoped to be lucky enough to see quan hongchan from a distance, "just to join in the fun, post on wechat moments to brag!" the onlookers were all delighted, "it's all the same."

in front of quan hongchan's house, there is also a paris olympic games winning poster "friends, welcome", which has become the second photo-taking spot in the village. fences have been set up in front of the house, and four warning signs have been erected, "civilized check-in, no noise", "no online live broadcast", "keep quiet, no loud noises" and "no drone aerial photography", which are particularly eye-catching.

the warning sign in front of quan hongchan's house. photo by zhao yumeng

in recent days, few people have been seen live streaming at quan hongchan's home. the staff maintaining order at the scene said that if they see anyone live streaming or flying a drone, they will immediately stop it.

deng ying is a salesperson at a local real estate company in zhanjiang. since the paris olympics, she has been live-streaming outside quan hongchan's home from time to time. she also live-streamed on the day quan hongchan returned home, but later stopped live-streaming due to a ban. "now the platform will also take measures (to ban live-streaming)."

deng ying admitted that she hopes to obtain high traffic and increase the number of fans through live broadcast of quan hongchan’s home, so that more people can see the houses she sells and increase transactions.

at 12 noon, a villager was broadcasting live on his mobile phone on the street. he did not want to broadcast live in front of quan hongchan's house, fearing that it would affect their rest. "the traffic is not important. i don't make money from it. as a maihe villager, the key is to share it with friends from other places."

china newsweek visited and found that there were vendors doing live broadcasts on the snack street outside quan hongchan's home, mainly to attract business and sell online. quan hongchan was not mentioned much, and when there were comments asking about related topics, the vendors suggested not to ask such questions.

“i sold another 9,000 yuan today.”

after winning two consecutive olympic championships, quan hongchan's popularity reached a new high, and the number of visitors to maihe village surged.

quan hengxin clearly remembers that the number of stalls in the village snack street increased little by little. after winning the championship, tourists began to come in an endless stream, and the number of stalls also increased significantly, gradually forming a snack street in front of quan hongchan's house. the peak traffic time is usually lunchtime and dinnertime.

as the number of stalls and people increased, in order not to affect the normal rest of the villagers, the village put up a warm reminder sign: from august 26, it will no longer be open to the public at 21:00 every night, and the vendors will start to close at 21:30 so that the village can carry out sanitation and cleaning work. "maihe village welcomes tourists and friends to choose a suitable time to check in and play."

walking into this snack street which is about 200 meters long and has 110 stalls at its peak, you can see that in addition to local specialties such as shrimp cakes and sugarcane juice, there are also the same olympic five-ring sunglasses as quan hongchan for sale, as well as the little turtle ornaments that became popular on the internet because of quan hongchan.

"champion's touch, five rings' charm, mirror in front of you, 10 yuan a pair", quan zengdu was one of the first stall owners to discover the business opportunity of olympic five rings sunglasses. after seeing a post about quan hongchan wearing this pair of sunglasses in paris, quan zengdu immediately placed an order online, and it quickly became a hot-selling product on this street. "during the peak period, more than 200 pairs can be sold a day, and some stall owners can sell more than 500 pairs a day!"

in august this year, within a week after quan hongchan won the gold medal at the paris olympics, "the flow of people reached a peak." quan zengdu remembered that his stall was "full of people, and they couldn't even stand steadily." after schools started in various places in september, the flow of people dropped significantly. during the days when quan hongchan returned home, the flow of people rebounded significantly.

another star product in the snack street is the turtle ornaments made popular by quan hongchan. quan wenxin seized the traffic of the "little turtle match" event, and the "little turtles" sold for 5 yuan each were very popular among children. in august, when the traffic was the highest, about 200 turtles could be sold a day.

the "little turtle" and five-ring sunglasses sold by quan wenxin. photo by zhao yumeng

another person who sells turtle products is quan zhenghan, but she sells "turtle honey" for 16 yuan each. this is because she was watching a cctv interview program where the host gave quan hongchan and chen yuxi a pair of turtle and bee dolls, which symbolize best friends. quan zhenghan saw the business opportunity and immediately bought wholesale online. in the short time the reporter was there, she had sold three of this "turtle honey".

food vendors are also doing well. quan hengxin's stall sells roast suckling pigs. after his breakfast shop in the city closed down in may due to poor business, he joined the village stall team in august. "when business is good, the money i earn can buy five suckling pigs a day, making 1,000 yuan a day! when business is bad, the income can buy two or three pigs."

quan hengxin understood the village's suggestion to close the stalls at 9:30 p.m., saying it might affect revenue. "it will still have some impact, but everyone needs to rest. if she stays at home for a few more days, there will be more people coming and going, and if they disturb her, she will not be able to rest well, so she will leave at that time."

in august, chen jiantao decided to open the first restaurant in the village after seeing the increasing number of people in the village. just one month after opening the restaurant, quan hongchan won the championship. the restaurant has a good flow of customers every day. at the peak, 20,000 people came to maihe village every day. in september, the flow of customers decreased. in the past two days since quan hongchan came back, the flow of customers has increased again. "today, we sold 9,000 yuan again," chen jiantao said excitedly.

chen jiantao is also very supportive of the closing time, "she is a champion and a little girl, she should be understood," and now his shop closes on time at 8:30 p.m., "we will not be open if more people come."

although it is the mid-autumn festival holiday, the village is very quiet except for the busy snack street. most of the people here are elderly and speak the local leizhou dialect. there is only one maihe primary school in the village, which is quan hongchan's alma mater. most of the children are studying in the town or other places, and their parents are working in other places.

quan wenhao is a senior high school student in the city. during the mid-autumn festival, he helped his grandmother set up a stall at the door of his house to sell the local specialty snack, yeta cake. quan wenhao said that villagers usually don't take the snack street, and can take other roads to enter the village.

he remembered that before quan hongchan won the gold medal at the tokyo olympics, there were no street lights in the village. it was dark at night, and the road was illuminated by the lights in the villagers' homes.

after winning the championship, almost every lane in the village has street lights. the main road in the village was also changed from cement road to asphalt road two years ago, making life more convenient for the villagers. although he likes the hustle and bustle, he still hopes that the village can return to tranquility at night. "there are mostly elderly people here, and the villagers usually go to bed early. after the relevant restrictions are in place, it can indeed better ensure the villagers' rest."

29.9 yuan for a day trip, plus two boxes of mooncakes

various tour groups have also seen business opportunities.

on the morning of september 15, china newsweek met the study tour group at the entrance of the village. the tour group's itinerary included quan hongchan's alma mater, the village committee, the snack street, the doorstep of quan hongchan's home, and the village ancestral hall, etc. a tutor led the team to visit and explain.

according to a person in charge who was present with the team, their team has held more than 90 study tours, with each stop at a different location. this time they were visiting quan hongchan's home, with a total of 12 families participating, the youngest of whom was 5 years old. adults were charged 80 yuan, while children were free. "the number of people who signed up this time is significantly higher than before, and most of them came for quan hongchan."

the study tour group checked in at the gate of maihe primary school. photo by zhao yumeng

in addition to study tours, in august many travel agencies launched "quan hongchan's hometown tour" or a one-day tour to zhanjiang, using quan hongchan's hometown as a selling point. however, these routes have been rarely launched or have been cancelled recently.

qi ben's travel agency launched a one-day tour to zhanjiang in august for 138 yuan per person, with quan hongchan's hometown as one of the stops. qi ben said that the tour only lasted about 10 days and then could not be continued. "after quan hongchan returned home, the onlookers had seriously harassed her." now tour groups cannot be organized to go to the village, and tourists can only go there on their own. "tour groups have to report to the village, and there is no need for us to take advantage of this popularity and sell other routes directly."

xu qiong's travel agency has no plans to launch a one-day tour to quan hongchan's hometown for the time being. "there is no plan now. i have done a lot of tours before, with 10 cars leaving. i will see when to do it in the future."

looking through xu qiong's circle of friends, china news weekly found that the last time a similar route was launched at 158 ​​yuan per person was on september 4. the itinerary included visiting the zhanjiang mooncake factory to give away five-nut golden ham mooncakes, strolling around cunjin park, checking in at chikan old street, checking in at maihe village, etc. the group was basically composed of middle-aged and elderly people.

maihe village is one of the stops on a one-day tour of zhanjiang. photo/xu qiong’s moments

china newsweek randomly walked into a travel agency in chikan district, zhanjiang, and asked whether there was a "one-day tour to quan hongchan's hometown" project during the mid-autumn festival. the business manager yang fan waved his hands and said that there are no large groups now. there were many large groups in august, and now you can charter a small car. after school started in september, basically no one went there. now tourists have seen those videos and started to go again.

yang fan said that the tour guide actually didn’t know how to introduce maihe village, “and a lot of things were also seen on the internet.”

"in august, we launched several 29.9 yuan shopping tours, with nearly 10,000 people participating, mostly middle-aged and elderly people. they went to the shopping spot in the morning and went to maihe village for half an hour in the afternoon. they were given chickens, ducks or two boxes of mooncakes." yang fan said, "later, there were too many people doing this, and the tourism bureau investigated them, so we stopped doing it."

china news weekly learned from the local cultural and tourism department that the department has strengthened supervision of sightseeing tour groups going to maihe village. recently, it has sent staff to the entrance of maihe village every day to actively guide and patiently persuade the sightseeing tour groups taking buses, hoping that they will not interfere with the normal lives of the athletes and their families and carry out their travel itineraries in a civilized and orderly manner.

the signpost to quan hongchan's house has been removed

at noon on september 16, when china newsweek met with the village party secretary quan nanshan at the maihe village committee, his cell phone kept ringing.

this is the first time that quan hongchan has returned to her hometown in two years. quan nanshan has been particularly busy these days. due to the heated discussions online about drone aerial photography and late-night live broadcasts at quan hongchan's home, quan nanshan has also felt unprecedented challenges. "the peak traffic these days is more than 14,000 people a day."

in the video circulating online, there are multiple drones filming outside quan hongchan's home. at night, someone shouted downstairs at quan hongchan's house, asking her to come down and say hello to everyone. quan hongchan had no choice but to respond and asked everyone to go back and rest early. she was woken up by the sound of onlookers early the next morning.

quan nanshan said that in the first two days after quan hongchan returned to the village, the people who gathered at the door were basically nearby villagers who came before or after get off work. "on the afternoon when she returned home, a drone was hovering over her house. after the patrol police found it, they found the operator and made him land the drone."

china news weekly learned from the on-site staff of maihe village that since winning the gold medal at the paris olympics, local public security, traffic police, market supervision bureau and other relevant departments have been on duty at the scene. quan nanshan said that in fact, on the night when quan hongchan returned home and early the next morning, the on-site staff had adopted a gentle persuasion method, and after seeing that the effect was not good, they added a warning sign on the fence at noon the next day.

quan nanshan introduced that maihe village has a total population of more than 2,000 people and a total area of ​​about 3,000 mu. the cash crops are sugar cane and rice. the villagers rely on farming and working outside the village as their source of income. "the overall economic level is not high." after the olympics, the flow of people began to increase. villagers from this village and other villages came to set up stalls, and the stalls became longer and longer. "everyone wants to make some money."

an on-site staff member told china newsweek that the relevant departments had considered removing the snack street before, but later saw that it was relatively orderly, so they did not force it to be removed. however, quan nanshan admitted that in order to facilitate the flow of people to the snack stalls, vendors did set up a sign pointing to quan hongchan's home at the intersection in early september. the relevant photos also attracted attention online. the village committee immediately removed it after discovering it. on september 15, the reporter visited and found that such signs no longer existed in the village.

quan hongchan's house pointing to the road sign. photo/internet

quan nanshan denied the online rumor of "closing the village". he said that closing the village from 9pm was just a persuasion, not a forced ban on tourists, and closing at 9:30pm was "the result of a discussion and approval by the villagers' representative meeting." quan nanshan said that some villagers did complain about the noise before, but most villagers still wanted to maintain it. after a period of testing, the vendors also cooperated with closing at 9:30pm. "the economic benefits are also high, and the noise has decreased. this closing time is acceptable to everyone."

why shouldn’t athletes be “fan clubized”?

a villager revealed to china newsweek that before returning home, quan hongchan had expressed her desire to "really go home" and that she liked the pastoral life at home, "but the signboards, drones, tour groups, and blockades are really excessive."

in fact, this is not the first time that quan hongchan has been besieged by fans recently. on the evening of september 1, during the visit of the chinese sports delegation to australia for the paris olympics, quan hongchan went out in casual clothes and was surrounded by fans in the toilet, unable to escape. the video went viral on the internet.

liu kai, a sports lawyer at beijing zhongwen (changsha) law firm who has long been concerned about the phenomenon of sports fan clubs, analyzed to china newsweek that quan hongchan's "specialness" lies in the fact that she is not only an outstanding athlete, but also a symbolic figure in society. she won the tokyo olympics at the age of 14. her age and the background of her victory have aroused great public attention.

in liu kai's opinion, some of quan hongchan's "fans" have gone beyond appreciation of the athlete's achievements and turned to personal worship. this emotion includes pity for her as a young athlete, a desire to protect her, and concern for her family. quan hongchan was born in a rural family and is full of elements of simplicity, diligence and hard work, which enhances her affinity and approachability. compared with many stars, her growth story has the symbolic meaning of "grassroots counterattack", which is particularly able to touch the public's emotions.

as for the fans who gathered outside his home, what was their purpose in chasing stars? did they like the athletes or the circle of friends who had athletes? should they be called "fan circles" or fans? liu kai believes that there are significant differences in motivation and behavior between real fans and these "fan circle" star chasers.

"fans" braved the rain to "guard" the back door of quan hongchan's house. photo by zhao yumeng

by filming and sharing quan hongchan's private life, fans gain likes, comments, and followers on social media, and this virtual sense of achievement drives them to constantly pursue more content. this behavior is similar to a social currency, especially in the "fan circle" culture, where having "exclusive" content means a higher status.

in august this year, the general administration of sport of china held a special working meeting to rectify the chaos in the "fan circle" in the sports field. it mentioned that the chaos in the "fan circle" seriously disrupted the order of sports work, damaged the reputation of the sports industry, and damaged the image of the sports front. therefore, it is necessary to resolutely resist the deformed "fan circle culture" and comprehensively strengthen the safety and privacy protection of athletes.

liu kai believes that the 2021 tokyo olympics is a turning point, especially after the emergence of young athletes such as quan hongchan, sports stars have quickly entered the public eye. many people follow the olympics through online platforms, and athletes' game clips and life tidbits are widely circulated, starting to attract a large number of traffic.

in fact, there is no antagonistic relationship between fans and athletes. healthy star chasing has a motivating effect on athletes and fans themselves, and deserves to be encouraged. how to rationally chase stars is worth pondering.

liu kai suggested that fans should stay away from privacy violations. avoid tracking athletes' private schedules, secretly filming or posting videos of their private lives without their consent. fans should understand that there is a boundary between athletes' lives and competitions. rational fans will support athletes in public rather than interfere with their private lives.

when cctv interviewed quan hongchan, the host asked her: "how do you want people to see you, so that you can achieve your goals?" quan hongchan said: "i hope to be treated as a normal person. i don't want so many people to surround me."

on the first day after the mid-autumn festival, there were fewer onlookers. photo by zhao yumeng

on the first day after the mid-autumn festival holiday, maihe village returned to its former tranquility.

a stall owner was hesitating whether to continue setting up his stall tomorrow, "there are not many people today, and there will be even fewer people tomorrow. everyone who should come has already come."

(except quan hongchan, quan nanshan, and liu kai, all other names in this article are pseudonyms)

author: zhao yumeng

editor: huang yuxi

operations editor: wang lin