Thai BL Fandom and Re-Enchanted Acculturation in the Ruins of Chinese Modernity

This article examines the Chinese fandom of Thai Boys’ Love (BL) dramas as a transcultural “contact zone” in which fans negotiate the tensions between homophobic modernity and queer religiosity. Drawing on netnography conducted on Bilibili and Douban (2024–2025), relational interviews, and textual analysis of the dramas To Sir, With Love and I Feel You Linger in the Air, the study develops the concept of “re-enchanted acculturation.” It argues that Chinese fans re-sacralize same-sex desire through religious practices such as astrology, karma, and fatalism, countering the disenchantment and heteronormativity associated with Chinese modernity shaped by scientism and Marxism. At the same time, fans do not simply reject dominant ideologies; rather, they oscillate between secular and religious frameworks, producing syncretic interpretations such as “fannish Marxism.” By extending theories of transcultural fandom, the article demonstrates that fandom operates not as a site of pure resistance or withdrawal but as a dynamic space of negotiation, where dominant and subcultural cultures are rearticulated. It also highlights the “dark dynamics” within this process, including the reproduction of patriarchal and conspiratorial logics. Ultimately, the study argues that re-enchanted acculturation offers a lens for understanding how subcultures survive within—and transform—the “ruins” of modernity, while sustaining queer-inclusive imaginaries in contemporary Chinese society.