Society ·
Table Tennis Fandom: Deyunshe All Over Again?
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A Personal View in the Rain · Opinion Table tennis fandom is really Deyun Society 2.0 To me, crosstalk and table tennis are alike: both have developed a kind of fandom that seems to have sprung up out of nowhere.
Table tennis fandom is really Deyun Society 2.0
I now see many people posting: 'Looking back at when I followed Deyun Society and called myself a Deyun girl, I feel so foolish.' I have a feeling table tennis will probably be much the same later on. Both became popular seemingly out of nowhere, with lots of women following activities they had never previously understood or participated in.
PART 01 · Deyun Society First, how did Deyun Society rise and decline?
Deyun Society really was popular back then. Around the time of Zhang Yunlei, a crosstalk performer suddenly became a sensation. 'Exploring the Qingshui River' spread wildly through short videos, and crowds of young women poured into small theaters. That is not unusual: fandoms have more women than men, and some data say over 80 percent of star-following groups are women [12]. Crosstalk venues that had been filled with older men and women suddenly filled with young women holding glow sticks. Each had one; when Zhang Yunlei began singing, the audience sang along as if at a concert [1].
But what they watched was less the crosstalk than the person. They still spent money: buying scalped tickets, giving gold bars [2], and boosting rankings through fan clubs, with one person spending as much as several older audience members. Why? Because the feeling of 'I like him; when he is famous, I look good too' can become addictive.
Deyun Society had performer pairings that fans shipped, including Zhang Yunlei and Yang Jiulang, and Meng Hetang and Zhou Jiuliang. Some tracked schedules and waited at backstage entrances; fans quarreled online for their idols. It looked lively, but its foundation was already hollow: people were watching the personalities, not the craft.
And then? Zhang Yunlei repeatedly got into trouble over the content of his performances and apologized [3]; fandom disputes followed, and the young women who once cheered so loudly gradually dispersed. Deyun Society's path of becoming a fandom had its moment and then faded. Looking back, it was a fire that flared inexplicably and burned out.
And now, it is table tennis's turn.
PART 02 · Table tennis An inexplicable craze, the very same disorder
The rise of table tennis does not surprise me at all, yet it still feels oddly inexplicable.
Xinmin Weekly conducted a specific investigation: women make up the majority of table tennis fandom, whether the players being followed are men or women [11]. Following table tennis seems cut from the same mold as following Deyun Society back then. They watch matches too, but what they focus on most is 'the player I support must not lose.'
The details match as well. Deyun Society had shipped pairings; table tennis has 'Sha-Tou,' Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin, whom many fans ship. Deyun Society had people waiting at backstage doors; table tennis has people staking out venues, blocking hotels, and filming players up close. Fans of Deyun Society argued for their idols; table tennis fans do the same, even berating coaches.
The disorder in table tennis today At the Paris Olympics women's singles final, Chen Meng beat Sun Yingsha. The venue was full of cheers for Sun; some people gave Chen the middle finger and booed her when she scored, and the crowd even booed her after she won the title [4]; Ma Long was subjected to online abuse by fans and called an 'old manipulative man' just for joking with Wang Chuqin [5]; After Sun Yingsha lost a match, fans berated her coach Qiu Yike [6]; A stand-up comedian joked on stage that Wang Chuqin 'habitually goes out in a cold upset'; fans complained, and the organizer promptly suspended its collaboration with him [13]; The General Administration of Sport had had enough and shut down the national table tennis players' Weibo fan supertopics [7]. Liu Guoliang explicitly criticized fandom culture [8]; the Ministry of Public Security shut down 100,000 related accounts [9]; and People's Daily directly called 'fandom's erosion of sport a public nuisance' [10].
What is more dispiriting is that the national table tennis team's results get worse year after year, yet no one watches the sport itself, which is what really deserves attention; everyone follows personalities instead. Fan Zhendong was even 'driven' out. Once outside, though, he found it was not raining at all; the sky did not fall.
Does any of this sound like sport? It has nothing to do with sport anymore. Real fans watch the game; some extreme fans watch a person. But do you actually know that person? How many years has he played, what is his style, why did he lose: do you truly care? No. What matters to you is 'the person I support must not lose'; a loss must mean a conspiracy, targeting, poor teammates, or biased referees. See how even wins and losses become 'someone is bullying my favorite boy'? Is that not the old Deyun Society pattern? Yet there are undeniably many fans who watch rationally and support the development of China's national table tennis team. Is this not what people mean by 'the wise appreciate, the foolish compare'?
It is not that these women are wrong now. It is that this inexplicable kind of popularity has always followed this cycle. Deyun Society had its turn and the fire burned out; table tennis is popular now, and others are waiting behind it.
Deyun Society 2.0 is not an insult to table tennis. It is something that is happening now.
The popularity is real, the following is real, and the dispersal is real too. These extreme fans are still young and have not yet reached the point of looking back. When that day comes, the comments will probably again be full of 'I was young and ignorant; let's not talk about it.'
Whether you follow people or follow the game, do not bring the most irritating disorders of fandom—poor conduct and disregard for rules—into pure competitive sport. If that happens, nothing will really be left.