How Taylor Swift’s Chinese fans are helping fight the coronavirus

With their ability to coordinate huge numbers of people and transparent working methods, superstar fan clubs are leading the charitable charge to help China’s embattled doctors and nurses

Groups donated US$19,000 worth of essential supplies to hospitals across Hubei last week alone

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Chinese fan clubs for superstars like Taylor Swift are putting their organisational skills to good use to support doctors and nurses fighting the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:38pm, 1 Feb 2020Updated: 12:51am, 15 Feb 2020

All through the Lunar New Year holiday, Charlie Zhou, a coordinator for the Taylor Swift fan club in China, collected donations from members, then used it to buy urgently needed equipment and supplies for the Chinese hospitals tackling the coronavirus outbreak.

“We spent an entire day discussing in a WeChat group, then we wrote down the donation info, what hospitals the supplies should go to and who the contacts are,” he said.

“Everything is public and transparent so people know where the money goes.”

Over the past week, the club – with help from similar groups of Selena Gomez and Mariah Carey fans – has donated more than 133,000 yuan (US$19,000) worth of supplies to hospitals in Hubei, the central province at the heart of the outbreak.

Chinese fan clubs have been at the forefront of the grass-roots effort to support Hubei’s embattled hospitals, and have won praise for their efficiency and methods. In contrast, the official Red Cross Society has been slammed by the public for its handling of donations and inefficiency in the distribution of much-needed supplies, especially protective clothing for doctors and nurses.

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