Tian, Xi. “More than Conformity or Resistance: Chinese “Boys’ Love” Fandom in the Age of Inter- net Censorship.” Journal of the European Associa- tion for Chinese Studies, vol. 1 (2020): 189–213. DOI: 10.25365/jeacs.2020.1.189-213 The Journal of the Association for Chinese Studies (JEACS) is a peer-reviewed open access journal pub- lished by the EACS, www.chinesestudies.eu. ISSN: 2709-9946 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 In- ternational License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See https://creativecommons.org/li- censes/by/4.0/. RESEARCH ARTICLE More than Conformity or Resistance: Chinese “Boys’ Love” Fandom in the Age of Internet Censorship Xi Tian Bucknell University, USA xi.tian@bucknell.edu One of the most popular literary and cultural practices particularly in the digital age, “boys’ love” (BL, danmei 耽美) manga and fictional works are fantasies on romantic or homoerotic male-male relationships, and therefore are often naturally associated with homosexuality and pornography, two “morally” suspicious targets of government censorship in the heteronormative Chinese culture. This article aims to examine the various, indeed often opposite, strategies and tactics taken by BL participants and by some conscientious netizens on popular social media to illustrate how those who are under the threat of censorship grapple with harsh reality. In this article I argue that the BL practitioners’ responses to Chinese government’s anti-pornography campaigns are not simply a passive or reluctant “reaction.” I will first study the web adaptation of Priest’s BL story Zhenhun, demonstrating Priest’s as well as her fans’ tactful collaboration with the consumer culture and willing conformity to official discourse. Forming a sharp contrast with Priest’s commercial success, the controversial ten-year jail sentence of another BL writer, Gouwazi Tianyi, for profiting from producing and selling BL fiction has caused widespread outcry from both BL fans and ordinary netizens on Chinese social media. This case not only questions the dated criminal laws on obscene articles, but also challenges the patriarchal and problematic social institutions. 作為數字時代最受歡迎的流行文和文化踐，耽美漫畫和虛構作品是男男浪漫的戀愛關 係或性關係的想像，因此常與同性戀和色情聯繫起來。而在以異性戀為正統的中國文化中， 常常成為政府查制度針的“道德”目標。本文旨在研究耽美參與者和一些有良知的網民 在社交媒體上採取的不同甚至相反的策略，以現人們如何應嚴酷查的現。本文通過 研讀網絡耽美劇《鎮魂》的接受情況解讀了耽美作 Priest 及其粉絲與消費文化和方話語的 共謀。同時通過探討耽美作狗娃子天一因作和銷售耽美說而被判刑的案例，示了耽 美參與者和網民陳舊法律的質疑，以及父權制的社會制度的挑戰。 Keywords: BL, danmei, censorship, fandom, media studies, Zhenhun, Gouwazi Tianyi 關鍵詞：BL，耽美，查制度，粉絲研究，媒體研究，鎮魂，狗娃子天一