Fighting Fans.docVIP

Fighting Fans 　　The term “fresh meat” or “xiaoxianrou，”describing fresh-faced young male celebrities， has come to define a new wave of interest in teen pop idols in China. Like it or not， these breakout celebrities are becoming hard to ignore. 　　The Fighting Boys， abbreviated as TFBoys， a definitive example of the trend， seemingly appeared out of nowhere. A boy band consisting of 16-year-old Wang Junkai and 15-year-olds Wang Yuan and Yi Yangqianxi， TFBoys have ridden a wave of demand for“fresh meat” idols， demand fueled by the connectivity and mass market reach offered by social media. 　　When TFBoys released their debut album in 2013， the three band members were 13 or 14 years old. Two years later， these upstarts are already out-selling well-established A-list pop stars. An enormous fanbase has formed around the group， meaning a single word from one of them on social media will likely echo throughout China’s media and the Internet. 　　TFBoys frequently appear on TV variety shows， reality shows， awards ceremonies and in tabloid headlines. They have even had cameos in TV series and movies. All three have millions of followers on Chinese Twitter-equivalent Weibo ?C 10.5 million for Wang Junkai， 10 million for Wang Yuan and 8.7 million for Yi Yangqianxi. Even the most casual posts from these boys receive hundreds of thousands of comments and retweets. 　　While their relative level of talent， at least in relation to their prominence， might be open to question， the trend of so-called “Internet Plus” has helped incubate massively powerful fan “legions” behind groups like TFBoys. However， online ubiquity is a twoedged sword， and the group has been singled out for attack almost as much as praise. 　　 Unavoidable 　　In mid-July， Yu Mao flew to Nanjing from Shanghai to photograph Wang Yuan on a movie set. Yu is one of TFBoys’ “frontline”volunteers. He follows the band members wherever they go in the hope of snapping a perfect image to market to their hungry fan followin