This study examines the emotional and affective labor of China's zhong zhi ren (中之人), the human performers who animate virtual streaming avatars - known as pi-tao (皮套) – while remaining invisible to audiences. Drawing on Hochschild's emotional labor theory and Hardt and Negri's concept of affective labor as complementary frameworks, we conducted in-depth interviews with 25 participants, comprising 15 performers and 10 fans, to explore the motivations, strategies, lived experiences, and consequences of this doubly directed labor. Findings reveal performers are driven by algorithmic discipline, commercialized persona pursuits, and audience expectations. Their labor involves constructing avatar personas, calibrating real-time performance, and cultivating parasocial intimacy. Yet, this generates pronounced alienation: performers are estranged from their avatars' public brand value, algorithmic surveillance replaces authentic creation, continuous deep acting erodes genuine feeling, and affective social bonds are reified into traffic and revenue. We argue that digital platform capitalism's exploitative logic drives this alienation, compromising mental health and industry sustainability, which urgently requires a multi-stakeholder governance framework.
Luo et al. (Fri,) studied this question.