The ‘Making’ of an Online Celebrity: A Case Study of Chinese Rural Gay Couple An Wei and Wu Yebin

According to the 2016 China Internet Network Information Centre's Internet development report (CNNIC), the total Chinese internet user population reached 688 million at the end of 2015. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of symbolic capital provides a theoretical framework in our understanding of An and Wu's case. Bourdieu's theory acknowledges individual agency while also taking into consideration the social and political structures in analysing social changes. Bourdieu's social theory has informed a wide range of research in media studies. Bourdieu argues that social life must be understood in terms that do justice to both the objective material, the social and cultural structures and the constituting practices and experiences of individual and groups. The popularisation of the internet in China seems to offer new opportunities to Chinese gay men who have previously been marginalised and underreported by Chinese mainstream media. An and Wu's story can also be considered in its approach to traditional Chinese family values.