Love NBA, Hate BLM: Racism in China’s Sports Fandom

Authors

  • Altman Yuzhu Peng Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick
  • Xianwen Kuang Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
  • Jenny Zhengye Hou Queensland University of Technology

Keywords:

Black Lives Matter (BLM), China, Hupu, Lebron James, NBA, racism, sports fandom

Abstract

This article aims to explore how racism plays out in China’s sports fandom in the wake of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement sweeping across the globe. To this end, we conducted a case study of basketball fans’ postings on the most popular Chinese-language sports fandom platform, Hupu. The research discovered that the often-negative assessments of the BLM movement posted on Hupu were largely informed by racism deeply held in traditional Chinese thinking, which provided the grounding for Chinese sports fans to appropriate racial discourses to assess progressive equal-rights politics in Euro-American societies. The trajectory of such a discursive practice was twofold, enabling these sports fans to rationalize their political views pertaining to both international and domestic arenas. The research findings urge scholarly attention to the dynamic interplay between regional popular cultures and global equal-rights politics in the digital age in China and beyond.

Author Biographies

Altman Yuzhu Peng, Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick

Altman Yuzhu Peng (PhD, Newcastle University, UK) is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick (UK). Altman’s research interests lie at the intersections of critical discourse studies, feminism, media and cultural studies, and public relations. He is author of A Feminist Reading of China’s Digital Public Sphere and has published in Asian Journal of Communication, Convergence, Chinese Journal of Communication, Feminist Media Studies, Journal of Gender Studies, Media International Australia, Social Semiotics, and Television and New Media. Email: altman.peng@warwick.ac.uk

Xianwen Kuang, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Xianwen Kuang (PhD, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark) is an associate professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (China). His research interests include news framing, online activism, and media censorship. He has published articles in international peer-reviewed journals, including Problems of Post-Communism, Sage Open, Journalism, and the China Quarterly. Email: xianwen.kuang@xjtlu.edu.cn

Jenny Zhengye Hou, Queensland University of Technology

Jenny Zhengye Hou (PhD, University of Queensland, Australia) is a senior lecturer in the School of Communication at the Queensland University of Technology (Australia). She studies on strategic communication in the digital age, public relations theories and practices, and transmedia storytelling in disasters. Jenny’s work has appeared in Public Relations Review, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Public Relations Inquiry, Communication Research and Practice, and PRism. Jenny was awarded Legacy Scholar Grants by the Arthur W. Page Global Centre in 2019 and 2021. She is also the co-editor of The Global Foundations of Public Relations: Humanism, China, and the West. Email: jenny.hou@qut.edu.au

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Published

2022-06-13

Issue

Vol. 16 (2022)

Section

Articles

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