Chinese ‘mother fans’ dote on their top teen band

This picture taken on April 14, 2017 shows a woman handing out leaflets during an event for fans of Chinas boy band sensation TFBoys The Fighting Boys at a university in Beijing.The band has won millions of Chinese followers since their 2013 debut, rapidly amassing a following ardent enough to buy a giant ad in New Yorks Times Square for a band members birthday. / AFP PHOTO / WANG ZHAO / TO GO WITH AFP STORY CHINA-LIFESTYLE-ENTERTAINMENT-MUSIC, FEATURE BY YANAN WANG

BEIJING: Liang Shanshan considers herself a mother of two: one child is her biological son, the other is a 16-year-old Chinese teen pop star she has never met.

She is a “mother fan” and part of a group of women in their mid-20s to 60s whose maternal instincts are set off by China’s boy band sensation TFBoys (“The Fighting Boys”).