Chongqing Fandom Dispute Spirals Into Police Confrontation and Youth Protests

A large-scale confrontation recently erupted between female idol fans and male internet users outside the Chongqing branch of the mainland Chinese entertainment agency TF Entertainment. According to an Aug. 20 statement from the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau’s Nan’an District Branch, police responded after a crowd gathered outside an entertainment company on Nanbin Road and disputes escalated into water-splashing and chasing. Authorities said several people involved received “legal education,” while suspected public-order violations remained under investigation. Videos circulating online later appeared to show groups of young men taking to the streets and police taking participants away, with some social-media accounts claiming that many of those detained were minors.

TF Entertainment operates the TF Family (TF家族) trainee system and is best known for developing popular acts such as TFBOYS and Teens in Times (时代少年团). The company continues to recruit and train younger generations of aspiring performers.

The immediate controversy involved TF Family’s fourth-generation trainees, who had just completed their “Fourth Quadrant” (第肆象限) performance in Qingdao.

Some commentators said the incident had escalated from a “fandom conflict” into a confrontation between police and civilians, and that the Chongqing police’s handling of the situation showed that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) grassroots and lower-level governance structures are “in a state of shock.” They argued that the incident could have an even greater impact on the CCP than the “White Paper Revolution.”

Confrontation erupts; police make arrests

The Chongqing branch of Beijing Times Fengjun Culture and Art Development Co., Ltd. operates from the 18th floor of Tower A at the Changjiang International office building, located at No. 22 Nanbin Road in Chongqing’s Nan’an District. The site houses the company’s offices and trainee facilities.

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Groups of fans, predominantly women, have long gathered outside the building to wait for and photograph celebrities entering and leaving the premises.

On Aug. 15 and 16, several male livestreamers gathered outside the Changjiang International building, where TF Entertainment is located, according to Lianhe Zaobao. The men livestreamed from the scene, filmed female fans gathered outside, and repeatedly shouted “Jiahao,” a term regarded by TF Entertainment fans as derogatory. Contemporaneous social-media posts also alleged that some of the men had organized through online group chats before going to the building and that they filmed and shouted at underage trainees as they entered or left the premises.

The female fans at the scene said the filming violated their privacy and constituted harassment. They demanded that the male streamers stop filming, leading to heated arguments between the two sides.

On the evening of Aug. 17, the confrontation between the two sides escalated, with people throwing objects, splashing water, and chasing one another. Police arrived to restore order and took away one man who was allegedly involved in throwing water.

On Aug. 18, amid the online backlash over the police making arrests, large numbers of male internet users gathered outside the Changjiang International office building to show their support, protesting the police action. They again became involved in heated arguments and confrontations with fans at the scene, causing the situation to spiral completely out of control.

According to multiple videos filmed at the scene, some female fans threw mineral-water bottles, portable chargers, and other objects at the men, while the two sides traded insults and engaged in physical shoving. Several men retaliated by splashing water at the female fans. Two men were seen repeatedly kicking female fans. As the confrontation continued to escalate, police took away some of the men, prompting the crowd to shout angrily, “Release them! Release them!”

Large numbers of young men take to the streets in protest

As tensions continued to escalate and security concerns mounted, TF Entertainment issued an emergency notice on Aug. 18 announcing the immediate suspension of all in-person group training for its trainees. The move appeared to come amid growing pressure from local authorities.

According to videos circulating online, large groups of young people took to the streets of Chongqing on the evening of Aug. 19, marching while singing the Chinese national anthem. The crowd could be heard singing, “Arise! Arise! Those who refuse to be slaves…” as many participants filmed the scene on their phones.

Later that night, police reportedly detained numerous participants and escorted them onto buses in groups as authorities tightened security at the scene. Sources familiar with the situation claimed that many of those taken away were minors.

On Aug. 20, the Nan’an District Branch of the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a statement saying that a crowd had gathered outside an entertainment company on Nanbin Road at around 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 17. According to police, a verbal dispute escalated into an altercation involving several individuals, with some participants engaging in water-splashing, chasing, and other disruptive behavior.

The statement said that several people involved had been educated by authorities and that those suspected of disrupting public order would be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law.

Commentary: Today’s fandom dispute quickly escalates into a police-civilian confrontation

In response, X user “控城狮 | Real vs Rules” wrote that the most significant aspect of the incident was no longer the initial “verbal spat between male and female fandom members.” What began with several livestreamers gathering outside TF Entertainment’s so-called “18th floor” location to livestream and joke around quickly escalated, amid growing gender tensions, physical confrontations, and concerns over the fairness of police enforcement, into a much larger public gathering.

The post noted that people’s emotions changed during the course of the incident: “At first, people were cursing TF Entertainment and the fandom. Later, they began questioning the police. That was the point when the situation truly spiraled out of control.” This suggests that online public sentiment can now very easily make the transition from “online escalation → offline gathering → emotional escalation.”

The post further argued that today people may gather because of a fandom dispute; tomorrow it could be over property management, food delivery, or transportation; and the day after that, it could be a dispute over law enforcement. A “Jiahao” meme ultimately evolved into a police-civilian confrontation. This, the post said, is the most absurd and noteworthy aspect of the Chongqing “18th-floor” incident.

Commentary: This Chongqing incident could have a greater impact on the CCP than the ‘White Paper Revolution’

X user “Suwako—e/acc” also wrote that the Chongqing incident could have a greater impact on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government than the “White Paper Revolution.”

First, the post argued that China could enter a prolonged period of “strict gender separation” (男女大防), and that romantic relationships, marriage, and childbirth are major drivers of domestic consumption. In the future, the entire chain of industries associated with dating and relationships—including housing, automobiles, children’s consumption, and education spending—could decline more rapidly and thoroughly, resulting in prolonged economic deflation.

Second, it argued that many people may consequently abandon plans to date, marry, or have children. As a result, they would no longer choose high-overtime jobs in order to “save up money to marry”, but instead opt for less demanding work. The post said this could have a significant impact on China’s economy, which is heavily dependent on manufacturing and exports.

Third, the post claimed that many soldiers, firefighters, and people in other specialized occupations would become unwilling to make sacrifices for such causes.

Fourth, it argued that Chinese men had previously been relatively absorbed in grand ideological narratives and were less sensitive to damage to their personal interests, making them less inclined to resist. Now, rather than being swayed by lofty ideals, they are beginning to carefully calculate their own gains and losses. The post concluded: “This is a good thing. When people begin calculating their own gains and losses instead of being swept along by grand narratives, that is actually the budding of democracy.”

Some other netizens said that the offline “confrontation” in Chongqing shows that gender-based hostility has become extremely serious among minors. They described it as both a “landmark event” and a warning, saying that such intense gender antagonism among the next generation could have long-lasting and far-reaching consequences.

Commentary: Chongqing police response shows that the CCP’s grassroots and mid-level governance is ‘entering a state of shock’

The blogger “Civic Orderism” (公民秩序主义) wrote on X that the core objective of the CCP’s stability-maintenance system is to prevent large-scale gatherings of people, regardless of whether those involved are fandom members, men and women, young or old, or people of other identities.

The post said that during the TF Entertainment incident, the gathering was clearly visible and continued for several days, yet police initially remained at the scene and watched, only taking more obvious action after the “direction of events became clear.” This stood in sharp contrast to the authorities’ previous approach—including the Chongqing police during the Wen Qiang era—of quickly dispersing crowds.

The post further argued that given the Chongqing Public Security Bureau’s high-level, heavily resourced, and highly capable system, together with the CCP Cyberspace Administration’s and cybersecurity authorities’ big-data models, surveillance cameras, grassroots grid-management personnel, and online monitoring, relevant authorities would have detected that the gathering was taking shape well in advance. They had both the ability to intervene at an early stage and established contingency plans, but chose not to act immediately.

The post said that what should be watched most closely is the CCP’s coercive apparatus. The stability-maintenance system that the CCP has painstakingly built over decades was specifically designed to prevent large-scale gatherings. Yet the TF Entertainment incident can be seen as a case in which a crowd gradually assembled under the CCP’s watch, with police even standing by and observing. The Chongqing police’s attitude, the post argued, further supports the assessment that “the CCP’s grassroots and mid-level governance is entering a state of shock.”

Netizens left comments such as, “Another landmark event,” and “It’s simply because there is no genuine rule of law in the CCP-ruled country. If you [Xi] and the Party don’t follow the law, and the procuratorates, courts, and police don’t follow the law either, how can you expect these kids to reason with you?” Another commenter wrote, “All I can say is that Chinese society under Communist Party rule is full of problems. Unfortunately, the Communist Party has no wisdom to solve the problems it has created; all it knows how to do is suppress them.”