1. Introduction
2. Celebrities in the Western World
3. Celebrities in China
4. Digital Labour in China
5. Overview of China’s Internet Celebrity Industry
6. The Commodification of Internet Celebrities in China
7. The Working Conditions in China’s Internet Celebrity Industry
8. The Identity Construction of Fans in China’s Internet Celebrity Industry
9. Conclusion
Index
Biography
Xinyi Yang is a researcher in media and communication and holds a PhD from the University of Westminster, the United Kingdom. Her research focuses on the political economy of social media, with particular attention to Internet celebrities in the Chinese context.
“Xinyi Yang’s book shows how class and ideology operate in China’s Internet celebrity industry and celebrity economy. It is an excellent, highly meticulous and extremely insightful study, a must-read for everyone who wants to better understand the Internet in China and how influencers shape contemporary digital capitalism. I highly recommend the book to everyone who wants to understand how to apply the political economy of communication approach to a concrete case such as Internet celebrities”.
-- Christian Fuchs, Professor of Media Systems and Media Organisation, Paderborn University, Germany
“This is a well-researched, cogent and penetrating study of a neglected area in celebrity studies: Internet celebrities in China. Xinyi Yang shows how platform exchange operates within the context of a state sponsored society-wide media. The book is a landmark contribution to the comparative study of celebrity culture”.
-- Chris Rojek, Professor of Sociology, City and St George’s, University of London, The United Kingdom
