Pandas and table tennis are two of China’s most beloved national symbols, but the behaviour of some of their admirers has prompted concerns about extreme online fandom. In a rare open letter issued last month, the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda in the southwestern province of Sichuan condemned what it called toxic fan culture and online abuse targeting panda keepers. “Recently, it has been deeply disheartening to see certain individuals inciting and manipulating public opinion – both domestically and abroad – to smear China’s ‘friendship ambassadors’, the giant pandas, while relentlessly cyberbullying frontline panda caretakers,” it said. It warned that extreme behaviours, including cyberbullying, would undermine China’s decades of professional panda conservation efforts. “This work calls for real commitment, not emotional outbursts or fan frenzy. While public oversight is welcomed, we firmly oppose extreme or illegal acts carried out in the name of ‘love’.” In June, a court in Sichuan convicted two people of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for falsely claiming that researchers had abused giant pandas, and for inciting online harassment against research institutes and staff. According to China News Service, the pair were accused of using dozens of accounts and spreading false information through live streams and short videos on social media. One was sentenced to one year and six months in prison and the other received a sentence of one year and two months. Meanwhile, table tennis superstar Fan Zhendong also voiced his frustrations about toxic fan culture last month. Fan, a 28-year-old Olympic champion and four-time World Cup singles winner, said in an interview on July 26 that he had suffered “significant psychological trauma” after a fan broke into his hotel room in 2023. “Those fans won’t focus on your performance, but instead are keen to hype up off-court topics, spreading conspiracy theories and fabricated claims through multiple accounts, generating widespread buzz,” he told Phoenix TV. Fan, now playing for the German table tennis club Saarbrucken, said he had not expected being successful would have such a dark side. Beijing has launched a series of campaigns in recent years to “clean up” what it called “distorted” fan culture. More than 100,000 online accounts were shut down during a three-month crackdown last summer, and police said “prompt measures” had been taken to investigate multiple cyberbullying cases in the sports sector involving “fandom” behaviours such as rumour-mongering, defamation and verbal abuse during the Paris Olympics last year. Still, there is no sign that out-of-control fan behaviour is fading, at home or abroad. On Wednesday, the panda centre in Sichuan rejected claims on Chinese social media that the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington was “experimenting with replacing bamboo in the giant pandas’ diet with corn stalks”. The zoo is home to two pandas, four-year-old Bao Li and three-year-old Qing Bao – both sent to Washington from China last year. The centre clarified that the zoo provided the two pandas sufficient bamboo to maintain their normal diet, and corn stalks were offered solely as a form of dietary enrichment, not as a substitute. Last year, South Korean fans of the giant panda Fu Bao accused the panda centre of abusing the animal. Fu Bao was born in South Korea in 2020 but moved to the Chinese facility in April of last year. Photos that surfaced after her transfer appeared to show patches of missing fur, which social media users said was evidence of mistreatment. South Korean fans even paid for a billboard ad in New York’s Times Square accusing the panda centre of abuse. The centre denied the claims, saying Fu Bao had received proper treatment since her arrival in China. Wang Jingya, a lecturer at Zhejiang International Studies University who researches Chinese fan culture, said that compared with fandom surrounding entertainment celebrities, fan behaviour about pandas and table tennis was “more sensitive” because of their symbolic meaning in China. “For instance, the reason pandas are revered as China’s ‘national treasure’ lies not only in their ecological status as an endangered species but also in their state-constructed role as cultural symbols and diplomatic assets – embodying national sentiment and identity,” she said. Similarly, table tennis, considered the “national sport”, has long represented a sense of collective pride. Wang added that “the quasi-organisational nature of fandom circles means their mobilisation power often outweighs their regulatory capacity”. “The fans are good at rallying collective action quickly, but lack effective mechanisms for preemptively, actively, and retrospectively managing member behaviour and emotions,” she said. “But once misunderstandings or disagreements occur, they can easily escalate into public criticism and emotional confrontations, adversely affecting the athletes, their teams, and even the normal operations of public institutions.”