Our stars, which art in heaven

Star clans are dominated by those who are aged 30 years or under, and 71.2 percent of active fans are between 20 and 29, Aiman says. About 61 percent of them are women, 77 percent with a bachelor's degree or better.

These clans have established a strong foothold in Weibo, but they are also active in social platforms such as Tieba, Douban and Zhihu.

The clan culture has spawned great diversity among fans. Aiman says that 94 percent of its adherents are "only fans" (those loyal to one star) and "rational fans" (those who can accept criticism of their idol's shortcomings), the two subclasses overlapping. Other categories include "mom fans" (who treat their idol as their son), sister fans, wife fans, girlfriend fans and so on.

Apart from providing online support, they organize regional fan alliances that have branches in dozens of cities across the country. When a film in which their idol plays comes out they book a specific time slot in a cinema for a private viewing event.

"The clan culture is pushing a boom in the idol economy that has reshaped the traditional entertainment ecology," Guo, the marketing professor, says. "For example, Idol Producer, a boy group survival show broadcast by iQiYi in 2018, allowed fans to take part in creating the idols throughout the whole process and created a sense of presence, participation and pride among fans."