From Fan Factions to Fan Fictions

As a milestone in Chinese science fiction cinema, The Wandering Earth series, especially the first film, has attracted substantial scholarly attention, yet little research has addressed its reception among general audiences in China or the creative reinterpretations produced by its fans. Drawing on participant observation, field research, and in-depth interviews, this article maps the interpretive practices, derivative works, and internal contestations within The Wandering Earth fandom. We identify two dominant interpretive approaches and corresponding fan factions. The first group, which we term the “clue hunters” (suoyin pai), draws heavily on nationalist discourse circulating across Chinese social media, while the second, the fan creators (erchuang pai), is informed by grassroots feminism and queer subcultures. Yet nationalist and feminist/queer interpretations are not mutually exclusive; they could intertwine within fan works and converge, or collide, in the celebritization of the auteur-director. We argue that through these practices, fans remake the franchise into both an object of emotional investment and a mode of political participation, transforming fan spaces into crucial arenas for negotiating cultural identities, political sensibilities, and competing visions of China’s future.