Books

Xu, J., Guo, S., & Zhang, W. eds (2025). The Sage Handbook of Chinese Digital Media and Communication, Sage (under contract)

Xu, J. & Zhang G. eds (2025). Internet Vulgarities in China: Cultures, Governance and Politics, Amsterdam University Press (under contract)

Redmond, S., Xu, J., & Zhang, Li. eds, (2025). Border Crossings: Contemporary Asian Celebrity and Fandom, Bloomsbury (under contract)

Xu, J., Donnar, G., & Garg, D. eds, (2025). Asian Celebrity Cultures in the Digital Age, Hong Kong University Press

This book represents the first comprehensive study on Asian celebrity culture and industry in the digital era. Reflecting the interdisciplinarity of celebrity, digital media, fan, and cultural studies, it discusses emerging celebrity practices, economies, cultures, politics, and relations between Asian celebrities, digital media, and the internet with case studies from prominent Asian markets including India, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan.

'It has been a long time since the necessity of de-Westernising or de-Anglicising media and cultural studies was advocated. Yet much more needs to be done and celebrity studies is one of the least de-Westernised fields, given that the concept of “celebrity” itself is rather Euro-American-centric. This collection does not just accomplish this task credibly and comprehensively but also gives new empirical and theoretical insights into the field by analysing various emerging questions in the digitalised environment. Asian Celebrity Cultures in the Digital Age is a must-read for all scholars and students seeking to understand the diverse operation of cultural politics of fame and stardom in a digitally connected world.’

—Koichi Iwabuchi, University of Technology Sydney

'This collection offers a vital intervention into the historically Western-centric field of celebrity studies in its examination of the rich and complex celebrity cultures emerging across Asia. Jian Xu, Glen Donnar, and Divya Garg have assembled a diverse set of scholars whose compelling and dynamic contributions draw attention to the unique historical, social, cultural, and political contexts shaping particular Asian celebrity cultures, as well as the broader impact those celebrity cultures have within an increasingly globalised and digitalised media landscape. Asian Celebrity Cultures in the Digital Age is an important book that sheds much-needed light on the transformations in how we engage with and study celebrities in the twenty-first century.’

—Erin A. Meyers, Oakland University

‘Asian Celebrity Cultures in the Digital Age is an updated volume that explores the evolving landscape of celebrity and fandom cultures across Asia. This collection meticulously documents cases from various locales, highlighting the impact of online culture and social media on the cultural politics of identity, language, gender, religion, and more. Featuring insights from local experts and researchers, the book offers a comprehensive analysis of how technology is reshaping celebrity and power dynamics in contemporary Asian societies.’ —Anthony Fung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

‘This timely and significant edited collection is the first comprehensive study of how Asian celebrity culture has been transformed by the digital media era. Taking themes and case studies from the online arenas of political celebrity, fandom, and social media influencers, the book traverses both national and transnational contexts, with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia as anchoring stopping off points. The collection is rich in its analysis and complex in its journeying and findings, with highly original chapters on such topics as Livestreaming BTS, Indonesian Religious Influencers, VTubers and Disability, and Singapore’s Political Celebrity-Scape. This is a must read for those interested in how celebrity flows through the digital oceans of Asia.’ —Sean Redmond, RMIT University, Australia

Kent, M., Ellis, K., & Xu, J. eds, (2018). Chinese Social Media: Social, Cultural and Political Implications, Routledge

This book brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to address critical perspectives on Chinese language social media, internationalizing the state of social media studies beyond the Anglophone paradigm. The collection focuses on the intersections between Chinese language social media and disability, celebrity, sexuality, interpersonal communication, charity, diaspora, public health, political activism and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The book is not only rich in its theoretical perspectives but also in its methodologies. Contributors use both qualitative and quantitative methods to study Chinese social media and its social–cultural–political implications, such as case studies, in-depth interviews, participatory observations, discourse analysis, content analysis and data mining.

Xu, J (2016). Media Events in Web 2.0 China: Interventions of Online Activism, Liverpool University Press

This book is among the first to use a “media events” framework to examine China’s Internet activism and politics, and the first study of the transformation of China’s media events through the parameter of online activism. The author locates the practices of major modes of online activism in China (shanzhai [culture jamming]; citizen journalism; and weiguan [mediated mobilization]) into different types of Chinese media events (ritual celebration, natural disaster, political scandal). The contextualized analysis of online activism thus enables exploration of the spatial, temporal and relational dimensions of Chinese online activism with other social agents – such as the Party-state, mainstream media and civil society. Analysis reveals Internet politics in China on three interrelated levels: the individual, the discursive and the institutional.Contemporary cases, rich in empirical research data and interdisciplinary theory, demonstrate that the alternative and activist use of the Internet has intervened into and transformed conventional Chinese media events in various types of agents, their agendas and performances, and the subsequent and corresponding political impact. The Party-market controlled Chinese media events have become more open, contentious and deliberative in the Web 2.0 era due to the active participation of ordinary Chinese people aided by the Internet.

'Informed by a historical sensibility, Dr. Jian Xu’s book is an important study of three types of Internet-enabled events in China, which he calls media celebration, media disaster, and media scandal. The use of media events as an analytical frame significantly extends and enriches a famous concept in communication and social theory and deepens our understanding of an enduring social and collective practice in the digital age. This well-written and carefully-researched book deserves to be widely read.' — Professor Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania

'Engaging with the concept of the media event to examine the challenges and possibilities of online activism in China, Xu's book makes a significant contribution to media and communication studies scholarship, while at the same time both extending and updating its empirical and theoretical purchase.' — Professor Wanning Sun, University of Technology Sydney