In the wake of Matthew Perry’s death, Chinese fans mourn an old friend

Long before Friends made its official debut in China, the show was a word-of-mouth phenomenon in the country..

In the wake of Matthew Perrys death at 54, fans in China are mourning the loss of the star who felt less like a distant celebrity and more like an old friend...

While Friends didnt debut in China until 2012 through Sohu, a streaming platform the show had become popular more than a decade earlier thanks to bootleg DVD and hard drive copies..

China was experiencing this drastic historical change marked by the rise of consumerism, individualism, and urbanisation back then, said Xian Wang, a professor on modern Chinese literature and popular culture at the University of Notre Dame..

Wang said many young people in China identified with Perrys character and his fictional friends as they navigated living independently and developing their identity in a big city...

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