ABSTRACT
Eric Dunning and colleagues (2002a) have recently published fourteen accounts of ‘fighting fans’ from around the world. Whilst the compilation includes one chapter about fans in Japan (Takahashi 2002), there was little discussion of football in China or Korea. In this respect, the following survey offers a chapter missing from the Dunning et al. collection. Since the 1980s Chinese professional football has developed tremendously, but the quantity and intensity of football-related social disorder, especially the visibility of football hooliganism, has also increased. In this chapter, I will analyse accounts of social disorder and other incidents of football hooliganism against the wider background of Chinese society and culture in order to understand better its distinctive characteristics. This chapter thus provides one of the first detailed analyses of Chinese football hooliganism and football supporters’ culture in the English language.
