2025/08/13 by Yang Xinye · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Asian Culture and Media Studies #Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics #Media, Gender, and Advertising
paper · doi:10.1108/978-1-83608-482-220251014
openalex publication_date 2025/08/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract The Japanese comic and anime Axis Power Hetalia personifies countries as characters, presenting their historical interactions with a cheerful tone. Hetalia has gained significant popularity in China, where fans passionately pair the personified countries in homoerotic relationships. This fandom faces pressure concerning potential historical nihilism, with ideological and political discourses frequently fuelling fan disputes. Within this community, homoerotic fantasies intersect with real-world ideologies, influencing discourse and shaping interpretations of characters and pairings. Additionally, Chinese fans creatively negotiate their engagement with Hetalia, fostering an autonomous local fandom that collectively resists authorial authority. Chinese Hetalia fans navigate a three-fold struggle: dissatisfaction with Hetalia’s historical representations, intolerance within pairing factions and external criticism for the fandom’s perceived misrepresentations of history and ideology. This study examines how fans manage tensions around disputes and consensus-building on Chinese social media. The findings shed light on the complexities of fan culture and identity negotiation within online communities.