Zhen Troy Chen
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 1262718 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Zhen Troy Chen |
| PRENOMES | Zhen Troy |
| SOBRENOME | Chen |
| ASSINATURA | CHEN Z T |
| AFILIAÇÕES | City, University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2450-277X |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 20 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 39 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 19 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2018 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
From cultural to toxic capital
This article develops the concept of toxic capital to explain how antagonism, derision, and nationalist outrage are converted into value within China's platformised anime, comic, and game culture. Moving beyond celebratory accounts of participatory fandom and predominantly Anglophone discussions of fan toxicity, it examines the 2024 controversy surrounding The Game Awards (TGA) as a revealing case of conflict-driven cultural participation. Drawin…
Officially cancelled but eternally remembered
Becoming Ayi
The term ‘Ayi’ (Auntie) has often been used in a less discriminatory way than ‘Baomu’ (Nanny, Maid) to describe female domestic workers from outside the immediate family. Research into the development of the concept of ayi interrogates the identity construction and transformation of female domestic workers as part of the emergence of a post-socialist market economy. To understand the lived experiences of this social group which could provide us w…
Identity, Space, and Everyday Life in Contemporary Northeast China
The book documents the 40 years history of reform and opening up in China focusing on Dongbei, known as a unique and remote region of the country.
Fandom as Method
This paper focuses on international sports personality in figure staking Yuzuru Hanyu, who plays for Japan, and his transnational fandoms in China, to examine the politicisation of his evolving fandom during and after his performance at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Our contribution is to illustrate the value of analysing fandoms in the Chinese social media as a method that seeks to advance a decolonised approach to communication studies. Thi…
Negotiating the Affordance of Greco-Roman Spiritual Exercise for Community Flourishing
The worldwide launch of neoliberalism ushered everyone into an atomized society. Neoliberalism transforms Homo sapiens into Homo economicus, a narcissistic self-entrepreneur that positions their body as a factory, skills as resources, and earnings as products while relying less on others. Such atomization of individuals undermines the community. Following the Cartesian moment, enlightenment, and postmodernism's later wave, the world is disenchant…
Cashing the pink RMB through docile bodies
This article investigates the emergence of "erotic entrepreneurs" in China, a new category of male influencers who engage in erotic activities and target followers of all genders on platforms such as TikTok/Douyin and Bilibili. Through ethnographic research, we examine how these young individuals strategically marketize their private and intimate experiences as a form of aspiration and commerce. We use Foucault’s concept, "docile bodies," to inte…
Special issue on Chinese fandoms
Editorial for "Chinese Fandoms," edited by Zhen Troy Chen and Celia Lam, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 41 (December 15, 2023)
Co-Constructing a Gender–State Entanglement in Canonical Three Kingdoms Fandom
Adopting a discourse-historical approach (DHA), we analyse how male influencers and their followers co-construct a gender–state entanglement through social-mediated discussions about a mythologised historical figure, Zhuge Liang, on Bilibili. The analysis discovers that the historical figure is portrayed as a wen–wu masculinity archetype, whose imaginary is modified against current socio-cultural trends and intertextually linked to China’s nation…
A wen-wu Approach to Male Teenage Chinese Sports Fans' Heteronormative Interpretation of Masculinity
This article analyses how performatively heteronormative, male teenage Chinese fans consume sports games through the prism of masculinity, using secondary school students' engagement with the NBA (National Basketball Association) as a case study. Drawing on focus groups of twenty-three participants, we discover that male teenage sports fans constantly evoke elite NBA athletes as male ideals to define a desirable, heteronormative wen-wu masculinit…
Manufacturing and Commodifying “Chineseness”
With the proliferation of cultural and creative industries in China, the Internet Plus economy has turned millions of young people Chinese into entrepreneurial and digital prosumers. In tandem, multi-channel network has become a new business model to scout, train, package and promote online micro-celebrities into ‘natural and authentic’ spokespersons for self-branded products and services, who also play an important role in shaping national and c…
Unboxing the Chinese Blind Boxes among China’s grown-up missing children
This paper situates the ‘Blind Box’ consumption, collection and prosumption practices in China within globalisation and the ‘media-mix’ fandom, which is to consume and resell media merchandise in opaque packages as probability goods. We re-centre the focus of fandom studies on the then much neglected ‘missing child’ and now the ‘emerging adult’ in a globalising world. We argue the Chinese emerging adult consumes, collects and resells Blind Boxes …
An analysis of cultural dissemination and national image construction in Chinese influencer Li Ziqi’s vlogs and its impact on international viewer perceptions on YouTube
International social exchanges have always been important to China’s cultural soft power and image construction overseas. This study focuses on an internationally renowned mega influencer Li Ziqi and her vlogs on YouTube. These orchestrated vlogs tell stories of rural Chinese life and construct a desirable traditional Chinese rural culture for netizens at home and abroad. Informed by framing and cultivation theory, this study examines how user-ge…
From copycat to copyright
Many commentators have in the past hailed the production in China of lower cost versions of famous Chinese and international cultural and media products, better known as a shanzhai (山寨) form of production. Against that, this paper argues that there has been a significant move away from a copycat model in the Chinese creative industries, a trend which should be viewed within the context of China’s obligations as a full member of the WTO. This pape…
The Rite of Passage and Digital Mourning in Fang Fang’s Wuhan Diary
Using Van Gennep’s theory of Rite of Passage as its framework, this article examines the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Chinese culture as depicted through death and mourning in Wang Fang’s (penname Fang Fang) recently published Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City. As part of the efforts to control the outbreak, the Chinese government took over the managing of the deceased, which triggered heated discussions on Chinese social med…
Flying with two wings or coming of age of copyrightisation? A historical and socio-legal analysis of copyright and business model developments in the Chinese music industry
Following the third copyright law amendment in China, this paper offers a timely contribution to the debates on the shifting policy, governance and industry landscape of the Chinese music industry. This paper conducts a historical and socio-legal analysis of the development of Chinese copyright law with regards to the music industry and argues that the Chinese digital music industry has developed to a stage where three business models collide, na…
Chinese “female force” in an “American Factory”
This paper investigates the mediated narratives and identity construction of a reading club of female workers in call centers of multinational corporations in Dalian China, where the discourse of an empowering ‘female force' has been popularized and scrutinized on Chinese social media. These professional workers manage and construct their emerging middle-class identities through embodied experiences and mediated discourses fostered by an English …
Slice of life in a live and wired masquerade
This article investigates Chinese urban youth’s mediated ‘slice of life’ and playful encounters as part of their identity construction and performance work on Bilibili, one of China’s most influential video-sharing social media sites mediating anime, comics, games and novels. Using a mix-method approach of digital ethnography, participant observation, interviews and data visualisation, this article examines fans’ hermeneutic practices through ani…
Consumption as extended carnival on Tmall in contemporary China
This article examines the multimodalities of banner ads in pervasive marketing and advertising. Departing from the “Double 11 shopping carnival” spectacle on Tmall, this paper conducts a social semiotic and multimodal analysis of banner ads in the Chinese context. As the investigation of the discursive construction process shows, banner ads on Tmall take advantage of human interactivity, intentionality, persuasion and value creation to increase o…
Poetic prosumption of animation, comic, game and novel in a post-socialist China
Based on the case of Bilibili, a popular Chinese video-sharing social media with a core focus on animation, comic, game and novel, this article examines the transnational prosumption practices of Chinese urban youth who mostly belong to Generation Z. I conduct ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with animation, comic, game and novel fans to investigate the construction of heterotopia on Bilibili through their various practices of tactic…
Poetic prosumption of animation, comic, game and novel in a post-socialist China
Based on the case of Bilibili, a popular Chinese video-sharing social media with a core focus on animation, comic, game and novel, this article examines the transnational prosumption practices of Chinese urban youth who mostly belong to Generation Z. I conduct ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with animation, comic, game and novel fans to investigate the construction of heterotopia on Bilibili through their various practices of tactic…
An analysis of cultural dissemination and national image construction in Chinese influencer Li Ziqi’s vlogs and its impact on international viewer perceptions on YouTube
International social exchanges have always been important to China’s cultural soft power and image construction overseas. This study focuses on an internationally renowned mega influencer Li Ziqi and her vlogs on YouTube. These orchestrated vlogs tell stories of rural Chinese life and construct a desirable traditional Chinese rural culture for netizens at home and abroad. Informed by framing and cultivation theory, this study examines how user-ge…
Consumption as extended carnival on Tmall in contemporary China
This article examines the multimodalities of banner ads in pervasive marketing and advertising. Departing from the “Double 11 shopping carnival” spectacle on Tmall, this paper conducts a social semiotic and multimodal analysis of banner ads in the Chinese context. As the investigation of the discursive construction process shows, banner ads on Tmall take advantage of human interactivity, intentionality, persuasion and value creation to increase o…
Co-Constructing a Gender–State Entanglement in Canonical Three Kingdoms Fandom
Adopting a discourse-historical approach (DHA), we analyse how male influencers and their followers co-construct a gender–state entanglement through social-mediated discussions about a mythologised historical figure, Zhuge Liang, on Bilibili. The analysis discovers that the historical figure is portrayed as a wen–wu masculinity archetype, whose imaginary is modified against current socio-cultural trends and intertextually linked to China’s nation…
A wen-wu Approach to Male Teenage Chinese Sports Fans' Heteronormative Interpretation of Masculinity
This article analyses how performatively heteronormative, male teenage Chinese fans consume sports games through the prism of masculinity, using secondary school students' engagement with the NBA (National Basketball Association) as a case study. Drawing on focus groups of twenty-three participants, we discover that male teenage sports fans constantly evoke elite NBA athletes as male ideals to define a desirable, heteronormative wen-wu masculinit…
Chinese “female force” in an “American Factory”
This paper investigates the mediated narratives and identity construction of a reading club of female workers in call centers of multinational corporations in Dalian China, where the discourse of an empowering ‘female force' has been popularized and scrutinized on Chinese social media. These professional workers manage and construct their emerging middle-class identities through embodied experiences and mediated discourses fostered by an English …
Fandom as Method
This paper focuses on international sports personality in figure staking Yuzuru Hanyu, who plays for Japan, and his transnational fandoms in China, to examine the politicisation of his evolving fandom during and after his performance at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Our contribution is to illustrate the value of analysing fandoms in the Chinese social media as a method that seeks to advance a decolonised approach to communication studies. Thi…
From copycat to copyright
Many commentators have in the past hailed the production in China of lower cost versions of famous Chinese and international cultural and media products, better known as a shanzhai (山寨) form of production. Against that, this paper argues that there has been a significant move away from a copycat model in the Chinese creative industries, a trend which should be viewed within the context of China’s obligations as a full member of the WTO. This pape…
Poetic prosumption of animation, comic, game and novel in a post-socialist China
Based on the case of Bilibili, a popular Chinese video-sharing social media with a core focus on animation, comic, game and novel, this article examines the transnational prosumption practices of Chinese urban youth who mostly belong to Generation Z. I conduct ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with animation, comic, game and novel fans to investigate the construction of heterotopia on Bilibili through their various practices of tactic…
Slice of life in a live and wired masquerade
This article investigates Chinese urban youth’s mediated ‘slice of life’ and playful encounters as part of their identity construction and performance work on Bilibili, one of China’s most influential video-sharing social media sites mediating anime, comics, games and novels. Using a mix-method approach of digital ethnography, participant observation, interviews and data visualisation, this article examines fans’ hermeneutic practices through ani…
Consumption as extended carnival on Tmall in contemporary China
This article examines the multimodalities of banner ads in pervasive marketing and advertising. Departing from the “Double 11 shopping carnival” spectacle on Tmall, this paper conducts a social semiotic and multimodal analysis of banner ads in the Chinese context. As the investigation of the discursive construction process shows, banner ads on Tmall take advantage of human interactivity, intentionality, persuasion and value creation to increase o…
The Rite of Passage and Digital Mourning in Fang Fang’s Wuhan Diary
Using Van Gennep’s theory of Rite of Passage as its framework, this article examines the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Chinese culture as depicted through death and mourning in Wang Fang’s (penname Fang Fang) recently published Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City. As part of the efforts to control the outbreak, the Chinese government took over the managing of the deceased, which triggered heated discussions on Chinese social med…
Flying with two wings or coming of age of copyrightisation? A historical and socio-legal analysis of copyright and business model developments in the Chinese music industry
Following the third copyright law amendment in China, this paper offers a timely contribution to the debates on the shifting policy, governance and industry landscape of the Chinese music industry. This paper conducts a historical and socio-legal analysis of the development of Chinese copyright law with regards to the music industry and argues that the Chinese digital music industry has developed to a stage where three business models collide, na…
Chinese “female force” in an “American Factory”
This paper investigates the mediated narratives and identity construction of a reading club of female workers in call centers of multinational corporations in Dalian China, where the discourse of an empowering ‘female force' has been popularized and scrutinized on Chinese social media. These professional workers manage and construct their emerging middle-class identities through embodied experiences and mediated discourses fostered by an English …
Manufacturing and Commodifying “Chineseness”
With the proliferation of cultural and creative industries in China, the Internet Plus economy has turned millions of young people Chinese into entrepreneurial and digital prosumers. In tandem, multi-channel network has become a new business model to scout, train, package and promote online micro-celebrities into ‘natural and authentic’ spokespersons for self-branded products and services, who also play an important role in shaping national and c…
Unboxing the Chinese Blind Boxes among China’s grown-up missing children
This paper situates the ‘Blind Box’ consumption, collection and prosumption practices in China within globalisation and the ‘media-mix’ fandom, which is to consume and resell media merchandise in opaque packages as probability goods. We re-centre the focus of fandom studies on the then much neglected ‘missing child’ and now the ‘emerging adult’ in a globalising world. We argue the Chinese emerging adult consumes, collects and resells Blind Boxes …
An analysis of cultural dissemination and national image construction in Chinese influencer Li Ziqi’s vlogs and its impact on international viewer perceptions on YouTube
International social exchanges have always been important to China’s cultural soft power and image construction overseas. This study focuses on an internationally renowned mega influencer Li Ziqi and her vlogs on YouTube. These orchestrated vlogs tell stories of rural Chinese life and construct a desirable traditional Chinese rural culture for netizens at home and abroad. Informed by framing and cultivation theory, this study examines how user-ge…
From copycat to copyright
Many commentators have in the past hailed the production in China of lower cost versions of famous Chinese and international cultural and media products, better known as a shanzhai (山寨) form of production. Against that, this paper argues that there has been a significant move away from a copycat model in the Chinese creative industries, a trend which should be viewed within the context of China’s obligations as a full member of the WTO. This pape…
Cashing the pink RMB through docile bodies
This article investigates the emergence of "erotic entrepreneurs" in China, a new category of male influencers who engage in erotic activities and target followers of all genders on platforms such as TikTok/Douyin and Bilibili. Through ethnographic research, we examine how these young individuals strategically marketize their private and intimate experiences as a form of aspiration and commerce. We use Foucault’s concept, "docile bodies," to inte…
Special issue on Chinese fandoms
Editorial for "Chinese Fandoms," edited by Zhen Troy Chen and Celia Lam, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 41 (December 15, 2023)
Co-Constructing a Gender–State Entanglement in Canonical Three Kingdoms Fandom
Adopting a discourse-historical approach (DHA), we analyse how male influencers and their followers co-construct a gender–state entanglement through social-mediated discussions about a mythologised historical figure, Zhuge Liang, on Bilibili. The analysis discovers that the historical figure is portrayed as a wen–wu masculinity archetype, whose imaginary is modified against current socio-cultural trends and intertextually linked to China’s nation…
A wen-wu Approach to Male Teenage Chinese Sports Fans' Heteronormative Interpretation of Masculinity
This article analyses how performatively heteronormative, male teenage Chinese fans consume sports games through the prism of masculinity, using secondary school students' engagement with the NBA (National Basketball Association) as a case study. Drawing on focus groups of twenty-three participants, we discover that male teenage sports fans constantly evoke elite NBA athletes as male ideals to define a desirable, heteronormative wen-wu masculinit…
Identity, Space, and Everyday Life in Contemporary Northeast China
The book documents the 40 years history of reform and opening up in China focusing on Dongbei, known as a unique and remote region of the country.
Fandom as Method
This paper focuses on international sports personality in figure staking Yuzuru Hanyu, who plays for Japan, and his transnational fandoms in China, to examine the politicisation of his evolving fandom during and after his performance at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Our contribution is to illustrate the value of analysing fandoms in the Chinese social media as a method that seeks to advance a decolonised approach to communication studies. Thi…
Negotiating the Affordance of Greco-Roman Spiritual Exercise for Community Flourishing
The worldwide launch of neoliberalism ushered everyone into an atomized society. Neoliberalism transforms Homo sapiens into Homo economicus, a narcissistic self-entrepreneur that positions their body as a factory, skills as resources, and earnings as products while relying less on others. Such atomization of individuals undermines the community. Following the Cartesian moment, enlightenment, and postmodernism's later wave, the world is disenchant…
Officially cancelled but eternally remembered
Becoming Ayi
The term ‘Ayi’ (Auntie) has often been used in a less discriminatory way than ‘Baomu’ (Nanny, Maid) to describe female domestic workers from outside the immediate family. Research into the development of the concept of ayi interrogates the identity construction and transformation of female domestic workers as part of the emergence of a post-socialist market economy. To understand the lived experiences of this social group which could provide us w…
From cultural to toxic capital
This article develops the concept of toxic capital to explain how antagonism, derision, and nationalist outrage are converted into value within China's platformised anime, comic, and game culture. Moving beyond celebratory accounts of participatory fandom and predominantly Anglophone discussions of fan toxicity, it examines the 2024 controversy surrounding The Game Awards (TGA) as a revealing case of conflict-driven cultural participation. Drawin…
Sociology (18 obras) · Political science (13 obras) · Law (11 obras) · Aesthetics (10 obras) · Art (10 obras) · Gender Studies (10 obras) · Asian Culture and Media Studies (9 obras) · China (9 obras) · Gender, Feminism, and Media (9 obras) · Media studies (9 obras)