TFBoys band member focuses on larger causes

Boy band member galvanizes fans for larger causes. Yan Dongjie reports.

When TFBoys band member Wang Yuan said the "internet is necessary for improving education in the rural areas", fans of the teen singer got together to turn his words into reality by donating a mobile signal tower to Jiangxinzhuang village on the eastern edge of Beijing.

The Roy Signal Station, coined after Wang's English name, is 35 meters high and will provide the village with 4G communication signaling for at least two decades, covering one primary school and two kindergartens. It was the fans' way of celebrating their idol's 17th birthday in November.

Wang is a special advocate for education for the United Nations Children's Fund. In September, he had visited the UNICEF-supported Child Friendly School project in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and participated in the Rural Principals Forum there, calling for more to be done for children's education in remote areas.

"Education is a public good, not a handout. Education is a right, and we should never allow it to be a privilege," he says.

The teen singer's contributions are part of a recent trend in which a number of Chinese celebrities use their star power to marshal fans and members of the public to help the needy.

Time magazine has also listed Wang as one of the 30 Most Influential Teens of 2017, considering his accolades across numerous fields, global impact through social media and overall ability to drive news.

The list includes singers and athletes. Wang was the youngest and sole Chinese on it. Brooklyn Joseph Beckham, the 18-year-old eldest son of British soccer star David Beckham, was also listed.

Wang is a student at Chongqing Nankai Secondary School, one of the top senior middle schools in China.

He joined the Time Fengjun Entertainment group at an early age, and made his debut as a member of TFBoys in 2013.

TFBoys is one of China's most popular boy bands. It has won major music awards and boasts more than 98 million followers on Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro blog.

Other than education, Wang and his fans also focus on environmental protection.