Y star-struck: What Type of Fans are You?
By Li Yueqi

Tiffany Li, a 20-year-old girl was in Guangzhou attending a concert of her favorite Korean idol group. With great expectation, she will fly to Hong Kong next month to enjoy another big concert.

Li, just like millions of youths in their teens or twenties, are "star-struck", or in layman terms , we call them "fans", who are extremely interested in or impressed by celebrities. They usually show their enthusiasm by joining fan clubs, buying albums and every other  thing related to their "stars", attending concerts, or films, even promoting products endorsed by the idols.

Nowadays, with the dramatic development of the Internet and efficiency in transportation, it's much easier for fans to keep track of their idols. A large number of "loyal" fans are created so that they do not just communicate with stars through social networks, but also are able to follow their schedules. "Every day I would look at their pictures and videos through Weibo for about five hours as there are  so many  updates out there!" said Li. "Although it is expensive to fly to another place just to attend a concert, I think it's really worth it because I could meet them in person and enjoy their best performance!"

The high cost of tracking a star is not the only concern. Some of the fans show their "loyalty" in an improper way which causes harm to others, and even disturbance in public places; especially in airports, where crowds of young people would pour into the arrival gate of the airport screaming, stretching their arms,jostling with each other, and throwing gifts directly to the celebrities. They would even trample on other fans just to get closer to their idols. In some extreme cases, this can lead to an intense personal celebrity worship that is associated with poorer mental health according to the research paper about celebrity worship published in the British Journal of Health Psychology in 2005.

On the contrary, some of them did hold a different attitude. "I used to do those "crazy" things such as collecting posters and pamphlets in the stores which they (idols) endorsed," said Jarvinia Zhao, a J-Pop fan for four years since 18. "It really is your own choice to behave rationally or not. In the future I would still support them, but I will never do anything foolish or harmful to myself, others, or hurt the idols' images." Zhao has been learning Japanese for a long time and now serves in the fan group making subtitles for Chinese fans. "I think supporting them with rationality and responsibility is what a true fan should do."