What makes the ＂rice circle＂ grow deformed？

At the entrance of the Training Bureau of the State Sports General Administration, there are photographers and fans gathered all the year round.

In the women’s singles final of table tennis in Paris Olympic Games, the contest between Sun Yingsha, a national table tennis player, and Chen Meng was supposed to be a pleasing match, but the audience and online fans made the match dusty.

Some people pour sewage and create yellow rumors; Some people have a conspiracy theory and approve it as a "related household"; Someone took out the "rice circle" (fan circle) and tried to prove that "my family is bigger than you, so we should win the championship" … In this regard, many netizens and even members of the "rice circle" said that Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng, both athletes who won glory for their country, why were they so trampled on?

The "rice circle culture", a youth subculture that started in the entertainment circle and was formed by idol artists and fan economy, was formed by the joint action of the times, technology and industrial development, and its positive development is conducive to cohesive social circles. However, what is worrying is that some abnormal and irrational "rice circle" idolize behaviors are also growing like a fork in the road, even challenging the legal bottom line.

Recently, the public security organs, together with relevant departments, cracked down on illegal and criminal activities in the field of sports. In this regard, the Chinese Table Tennis Association and the Chinese Gymnastics Association have issued statements in these two days to express their firm support and condemn any illegal and criminal acts.

Behind some deformed "rice circles"

Has the shadow of commercial capital melee.

Chen Caihong, a TOP10 star on the Internet, retired after two years of "standing sister" and one year of "big powder" and three years of "working in the rice circle".

"My pink artist used to be an actor who didn’t make a debut for a long time, but his business ability is very good and he has always insisted. His resilience in adversity deeply infected me." Chen Caihong said, what is important is that in recent years, this star has really become popular, and she has been inspired by it, feeling that the original efforts have really paid off. "Joining the’ rice circle’ has helped me find a sense of belonging and people with common interests and beliefs."

Indeed, in the eyes of the vast majority of "rice circle" members, "rice circle" is a normal group performance of uniting and orderly organizing fans to support stars, including sports stars. If it doesn’t go abnormal in its development, it is also a reasonable existence, even beneficial to idolize’s group rational idolize, and promotes the overall positive development.

"Today’s’ rice circle culture’ is more organized, purposeful and large-scale than the original fan economy." A public relations person who has been in business for many years said that behind them is the shadow of the melee of commercial capital. In order to protect the commercial value of artists, artists need huge and stable fan resources. "They often satisfy their fans’ desires through marketing events and get rich returns. At the same time, Huize is part of the hardest-working fan base."

Grey industrial chain:

Open the box, shoot, and stalking fan.

Behind the "rice circle culture", many industrial chains have been formed, and even a gray industrial chain is hidden.

"Information trafficking, the sale of star pictures and videos, and the demand of fans have formed a special group and super words to trade." Chen Caihong said that in the "rice circle", the hacker technology that can query the personal information of stars is called "opening the box". "In the past few years, no one dared to open the box in the" rice circle ".Since about 2023, the behavior of" opening the box "has suddenly increased, and the stars are easily threatened by privacy."

At one end of the gray industrial chain are personal information and private photos of stars sold as "commodities", while at the other end, there are buyers mainly from "stalking fan" and "Daipai" groups.

The source of star photos and videos is mostly through "taking pictures". "Daipai doesn’t follow the order like fans. In order to make money, it will collide with the artist’s face shooting, which will trigger the resentment of the’ rice circle’." Chen Caihong said that, paradoxically, artists need photo exposure to maintain their popularity, so it is a state of mutual use.

The "illegitimate" behavior is mainly manifested in the excessive invasion and harassment of the private lives of stars. Chen Caihong said that in the "rice circle", "illegitimate students" will definitely be expelled from the school and will not be recognized. Their extreme behaviors include following and filming the itinerary that has not been officially released, squatting in the downstairs of the star’s house or in the hotel room.

In the "rice circle", there is a saying: No money, no idolize. The money that fans spend on idols is likely to end up in the pocket of "powder head". In recent years, news such as "powder head" corruption and running away with money have often been exposed. Huang Honglian said that the fan group lacks the supervision of professionals in the crowdfunding process, and it is likely that the person in charge will run away with fund-raising, which is illegal possession and may involve fraud crimes.

How to make the sports circle

Not attacked by deformed "rice circles"?

Duan Li, an associate professor at the School of Language and Culture in China, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said that the deformed "rice circle culture" includes compulsory tasks, including fame and profit, ranking, hot search, purchase, cash support, etc. Through operation, it forms an artificial, false, unitary and antagonistic star popularity ranking, and a logically distorted "idol-fan" relationship. "The distortion is that it starts from spontaneous production and creativity.

"Fortunately, competitive sports has a special training and selection mechanism. At present, there is not much room for the possibility of interfering with training, selection and events." However, Duan Li also said that competitive sports is a national project, and it also needs to take into account social demands, social evaluation, social effects, and the possible commercial value of athletes in the later period. "Therefore, from the perspective of national governance, it is necessary to sort out the logical mechanism of’ rice circles’, actively explore the comprehensive value of athletes as role models, idols, and benign interactions with audiences and fans, and actively and effectively guide the polarization of irrational preferences, especially to deal with various commercialization.