Fans power China's lucrative idol economy, boosting stars on social media and buying merchandise that they promote at shops like this. Fans power China's lucrative idol economy, previously forecast by state media to be worth 140 billion yuan ($21.6 billion) by 2022. Critics say fan culture is an exploitative industry aimed at profiting from minors, built on artificially inflated social media engagement -- something the government wants to eliminate through the new regulations. "Chinese youth lack other types of idols," said Fang Kecheng, communications professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. While Li has over 200,000 followers on social media, it's far from viral superstardom.
