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i Jingyuan became a fan of A- “
SOUL this April, after acci-
Ldentally clicking into their live If A-SOUL were real human beings,
streaming channel on BiliBili, a Chi-
nese video-sharing platform. “It was I probably would not have
interesting to watch their live stream-
ing,” Li says. become their fan
“They read fans’ live comments,
chat with fans, and play games de-
signed for interaction with fans when ”
live streaming. I feel like I am a close
friend of theirs,” the Year Two univer- ly RMB ¥1,500 (US $235) from his other fan groups. And here comes the
sity student says. pocket money on buying animation Qinglang campaign to regulate them.
Debuted on December 11, 2020, merchandises including a fan-made I feel lucky to be in a harmonious and
A-SOUL is a virtual girl group created doll and virtual presents on BiliBili. peaceful fan community,” he adds.
by Yuehua Entertainment and techno- Recognising himself as an anima- The Qinglang campaign was intro-
logically assisted by ByteDance. The tion, comics, and games (ACG) lover, duced by the Cyberspace Administra-
group has five members, who are Ava, Li pays very little attention to real tion of China in June to regulate “cha-
Bella, Carol, Diana, and Eileen. Chinese stars. He says A-SOUL is his otic” online fan club activities.
The virtual girl group has 288,000 first and only idol. Apart from A-SOUL, a new wave
fans on BiliBili. Their latest single Su- “If A-SOUL were real human be- of China-born virtual stars is emerg-
per Sensitive was released on May 1, ings, I probably would not have be- ing, such as Yousa from BiliBili or
2021,and it received over 4 million come their fan,” Li says. Xing Tong (星瞳), a virtual idol from
views and 156,000 likes on BiliBili as “Real idols’ fan groups are too al- Tencent.
of December 6, 2021. ienating. For example, raising funds Virtual idols can be roughly di-
Though Li is a student with no through personal channels, voting vided into two categories, both using
income, he has spent approximate- from day to night, and battling with avatars as performance fronts. One is

A-SOUL is a virtual idol group with five members (Photo Courtesy of A-SOUL’s official Weibo account)