Call You Sister

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Call You Sister

by Xiaoyun Huang

Gossip Blog Series 1: Gossip as Alternative Narrative: A Case Study on Chinese Female Online Community

Gossip Blog Series 2: Sinful Talk

In the previous blog, I discussed how Douban Goose Group (豆瓣鵝組), a Chinese online celebrity gossip community which transitioned into a feminist space over its 10 years history, has been targeted by misogynic culture and suppressed by intensifying censorship. In this blog, I will explore how members of the community address each other. Examining these discourse practices can shed light on the formation of their collective identity and the feminist awakening within the community.

“E”-Goose

The group was built by fans of the Taiwanese variety show “Kangxi laile” (Kangsi Coming) and named similarly as “Bagua laile” (Gossip Coming). The group’s shortened name was “ba-zu” (Gossip Group), and members called each other “ba-zu-er”, combining the Chinese “ba-zu”(Gossip Community, 组) with the English suffix “-er”, meaning “a member of the gossip community”. Interestingly, “zu-er” sounds like “zu-e” (组鹅) in Chinese, which means “a goose of the community.” Thus, the group members also referred to  each other as “e” (Goose, 鹅).

In 2018, the Chinese government cracked down on the entertainment industry. To avoid further risk of being targeted, the group changed its name from “ba-zu” (Gossip group, 八组) to “e-zu” (Goose Group, 鹅组). This new group name further solidified members’ identity as “e” (Goose, 鹅). When the group members discussed gossip, they often asked each other, “What are your opinions, e (Geese)?”

“Jiemei”- Sister

Around 2018, another term of endearment ‘jiemei’ (sister, 姐妹), gradually became popular. In the Chinese context, “jiemei” or sisters can extend to close female friends without blood connections. While calling each other ‘e’ (goose, 鹅) emphasized the identity as a member of the gossip group, using “jiemei” (sister, 姐妹) underlined their gender identity. The use of “jiemei” (sister) often intertwines with the notion that “sisters help sisters”. Three related discursive patterns can be observed.

First, “jiemei” (sister) is often used in affirmatives with positive adjectives to express encouragement to other females, such as: “Us, sisters, are the smartest and cutest”.  These affirmatives can appear in various contexts, including career, school life, relationships, and so on, often serving as a catchphrase rather than an argument or a conclusion.

Second, “jiemei” (sister)  is often used in imperatives to call for self-optimization. Sharing personal thoughts about  one’s self-improvement journey, including the learning of new skills, life experiences, and inspiring stories of female celebrities, is one of the most visible and engaging narratives in the Goose community. These narratives often use the imperatives as the coda, such as: “Sisters, always improve yourself. Learn more skills. Don’t limit your own life.”

These discourse practices went beyond individual improvement; they reflected a collective awareness benefiting the whole community. Frustrated by the government’s indifference to gender inequality and misogynistic culture, the Goose community believed in women’s solidarity for change. For example, when discussing workplace inequality, they advocated for women to excel and create women-friendly environments, seeing self-optimization as a way to support the collective.

Goose Sister

What’s more, “jiemei” (sister)  and “e” (goose) are often combined to call for action. Instead of being exclusively used, “jiemei” (sister)  and “e” (goose)  are frequently used together to co-constitute the gender-based group identity, calling for a strong collective identity both as females and gossip community members. In 2021, a #metoo hashtag was launched in response to  celebrity Wu Yifan (吴亦凡). Initiated by the victims who spoke out on Weibo (微博), the Goose community was one of the biggest groups that supported them. The imperatives calling for action such as “Goose group sisters, help!” were widely used to mobilize community support.

Through the gender-based group identity, women build closeness with each other encountered in the digital space, shedding light on the nuanced process of the feminist awakening. Call you Sister. Not necessarily knowing who you are, the addresses bond us together.