Gym boss and the evolution of political communication in Taiwan

The Centre of Taiwan Studies is delighted to welcome Dr Jonathan Sullivan for a talk on influencer politics in Taiwan, examining what it reveals about political communication, media power, and cross-Strait discourse.

This talk looks at the rise of Chen Chih-han (Guan Zhang 館長) as a case study in influencer politics and the evolution of political communication in Taiwan. Tracing his trajectory from gym entrepreneur and livestreamer to politics‑adjacent mobilizer, the talk discusses how personalisation, platform affordances and media entrepreneurialism interact to reshape the legitimacy of political communicators. 

The talk establishes how Guan Zhang achieved his present status, assesses his utility as an avatar for the TPP and analyses the source of his appeal to a segment of the Taiwanese public. These questions are worth asking because Guan Zhang is an atypical Taiwanese political or politics-adjacent actor. Further, the talk uses Guan Zhang as a lens for the Taiwanese political communications environment and cross-Strait discourse. 

Although Guan Zhang possesses unusual characteristics for a Taiwanese political actor, the emergence of 'alpha male political outsiders' and their journeys from internet provocateurs to the political world are far from unheard of among other liberal democracies. The talk thus reflects on whether Guan Zhang’s emergence is an evolutionary step in Taiwan’s political communications environment and the implications of his livestreamed trips to China amid intensifying Chinese efforts to influence Taiwanese politics and society.   

Image credit: Jeffery Chai via Unsplash.