Fandom as a subculture is usually have a close relationship with queer subcultures. We can see this relationship in Chinese fandoms, too.
Reading (the main character in a television adaptation) as a gay man, thus, could result in either criticism about gay representations in mainstream TV media or articulations of public awareness of tonghi movements in the contemporary Chinese cyberspace.
Egret, Lulu Zhou 2017. Dongfang Bubai, Online Fandom, and the Gender Politics of a Legendary Queer Icon in Post-Mao China=Lavin, Maud; Yang, Ling; Zhao, Jing Jamie 2017. Boy’s Love, Cosplay and Androgynous Idols: Queer Fan Cultures In Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Hong Kong University Press, HKU, 117.
What complicates this relationship is the censorship around the portrayal of LGBTQ relationships and the regulation of LGBTQ spaces in the country as we can see it in the next quote.
Notably, because of the stringent censorship regime in mainland China, belonging through participation to queer fandoms involves some risk – and it arguably offers a strong alternative to public spaces marked as more normative and officially sanctioned.
Lavin, Maud; Yang, Ling; Zhao, Jing Jamie 2017. Boy’s Love, Cosplay and Androgynous Idols: Queer Fan Cultures In Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Hong Kong University Press, HKU, XIII.