Alexter is the fan name for the fictional pairing of two actual Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution student leaders, Alex Chow Yong-kang, 24, and Lester Shum, 21, a relationship that has an ardent following on popular social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Lavin, Maud; Xiaorui, Zhu (2014.) Alexter: Boys’ Love Meets Hong Kong Activism. F Newsmagazine
Alexter wasn’t the first RPF based on activist as there was at least one earlier case related to the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan. It was, though, one of the more documented and researched one.
But this Alexter event was unique in its ability to transgress the boundary of fandom, and it became a festival for this political movement.
Laikwan, Pan (2020) The Appearing Demos. Hongkong During and After the Umbrella Movement. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
This transgression was visible in the content fandom generated about the pairing and in fans’ attitude.
Fans keep their participation up-to-date by frequently posting fictional reprises of actual events that feature the Alexter characters. (…) Posts in the Lester Alex He He Group, like the unknown poster posing as “Alex Chow”, often use these fictional descriptions of events to express developing political ideologies and personal sentiments about current social climates.
Lavin, Maud; Xiaorui, Zhu (2014.) Alexter: Boys’ Love Meets Hong Kong Activism. F Newsmagazine
During the occupation, an active Alexter fan explained to a reporter that most fans considered the movement more important than the fandom. (Ka 2014). To her, the fandom was only a by-product of the political events, and most fans did not confuse that order.
Laikwan, Pan (2020) The Appearing Demos. Hongkong During and After the Umbrella Movement. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
So, in theory, Alexter could have become a vessel for the political ideologies the Umbrella Movement itself represented, too. But this potential wasn’t picked up by the censorship as the following quote shows.
Also, while the Umbrella Movement has been entirely censored in mainland China, and no keywords have been able to pass through the iron curtain to enter the vast Chinese cyberworld, the Alexter fandom seems to have escaped censorship and landed on Baidu tieba, which was the largest Chinese communication platform at that time, although its Alexter forum attracted only a few followers.
Laikwan, Pan (2020) The Appearing Demos. Hongkong During and After the Umbrella Movement. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor
Obviously, the Alexter sexual economy and the Umbrella Movement political economy were more intertwined than that, as evidenced by how the fans invested their libido to compensate for their anxiety and dreadfulness.
Lavin, Maud; Xiaorui, Zhu (2014.) Alexter: Boys’ Love Meets Hong Kong Activism. F Newsmagazine