Loan trap

Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

"I could starve to death, but my idol must go viral" - this has become a motto of many crazy Chinese fans, especially those born in the 00s. It has become a worrying trend that more and more young fans are paying much more than they can afford to support their idols. Every month, they might spend as much as tens of thousands of yuan on buying records and tickets or paying to boost the number of social media followers for their idols. Since most of them are still students and they do not have stable sources of income, many have turned to online lenders which offer loans with unreasonably high interest, leaving them in debt. Such distorted fan culture is due to an invisible industrial chain that induces young fans to spend more money and boost certain idols' popularity for profit. These young fans need to stay rational and stop "amusing themselves to death." Otherwise, the heavy loans will become an unbearable burden that holds them and their families back.