From Online BL Fandom to the CCTV Spring Festival Gala

Regarding the question of politics and play in Chinese Internet culture, this chapter re-examines particular effects of netizens’ carnival practices, as well as the complex interactions and contradictions among cyberculture, the official culture, and consumerism in China, by centering on a specific case of “Looking for Leehom” (zhao Lihong) and its related media discourses in 2012 and 2013. The case serves as an influential online carnival, starting from an online Boy’s Love fandom of those who participated in the fantasy matchmaking of two male celebrities. Further, it raises large questions about resistance, complicity, and negotiation among different cultures and media, particularly considering that online carnival was appropriated by a performance on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2013 and then commented on by newspapers and magazines. The chapter inspects how the pleasure of Boy’s Love fantasy has been transferred, censored, and re-enabled between cyberculture and offline societies. By rethinking Bakhtin’s interpretation of carnival, the chapter concludes by exploring the cultural and social implications of “Looking for Leehom” and the potential power of the netizens’ fantasy.