China Studies Centre, the University of Sydney.

This talk discusses the manifestation of racism within China’s sports fandom, focusing on a case study of basketball fans’ discussions about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on Hupu, the leading Chinese-language sports fandom platform. The research reveals a pervasive trend of negative commentary towards the BLM movement on Hupu, which derives from China’s historical racial thinking and contemporary nationalist ideology. Hupu users’ expression of anti-Black sentiments reflects the nationalist underpinnings of China’s sports fandom and is dialectically connected to its “mainstream” geopolitical opinions. The research findings offer a fresh perspective on the perpetuation of Han chauvinism and racism within the Chinese-language social media sphere, shedding light on the intersections of sports culture, nationalism, and global sociopolitical movements.

About the speaker

Altman Yuzhu Peng is an associate professor at the University of Warwick and received his PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is currently working on a British Academy-funded research project exploring digital civic engagement in the Chinese context. He has authored a research monograph, co-edited two anthologies, and published over 30 scholarly articles in respected peer-reviewed academic outlets. He currently sits on the editorial boards of notable academic journals, such as Feminist Media Studies.