People walk on a promenade in Beijing on February 26, 2026.
Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images
Hide caption
Toggle title
Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images
Relations between the world’s two largest economies will grow more tenseMany young Americans are increasingly adopting what they consider Chinese cultural practices.
The most enthusiastic of them have come up with a name for this trend: “Chinamaxing.” In this installment of Word of the Week, we examine the Internet phenomenon and the geopolitical and social media forces behind it.
The word suffix, “maxing,” is Internet slang that means going over something. For example, “Luxmaxers” Obsessed with improving their appearance, “healthmaxers” are constantly sharing tips for improving personal well-being.
“Chinamaxxing” means drinking hot water instead of iced lattes, wearing slippers indoors, or adopting traditional Chinese skin care routines. On TikTok and Instagram, users joke that they are entering a “very Chinese time” in their lives.
This trend is amplified by Chinese diaspora influencers Sherry ZhuWHO regularly Shares herbal skincare recipes and tips for becoming a Chinese “baddie” (a baddie, of course, means a confident, attractive woman). What started out as niche lifestyle content has since spilled over into celebrity PR stunts Timothee Chalamet Playing ping-pong and mainstream cultural debates in Chengdu.
Part of that change came after popular livestreamers Hasan Paiker And Eyespeed Traveled to China last year, broadcasting visits to high-tech megacities like Shanghai and Chongqing to millions of viewers. His streams, featuring subway systems, dense skylines, and occasional street interviews with ordinary people, have become widely popular on American and Chinese social media.
Hassan Paiker attends the 2025 Streamer Awards at The Wiltern on December 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Jerrod Harris/Getty Images North America
Hide caption
Toggle title
Jerrod Harris/Getty Images North America
In an interview with NPR, Peaker framed China’s appeal in generational terms.
“Life is getting worse every year,” Picker said. “I’m buying an Applebee’s cheeseburger that you can dunk in a vat of melted cheese. But at the same time, those treats aren’t enough to know that things aren’t great here. And then I turn on TikTok and suddenly I see a video of Chongqing. They have trains everywhere and it’s this fascinating city.”
However, Pieker’s tour became a flashpoint in America’s ongoing culture wars. Supporters hailed his streams for humanizing ordinary Chinese people. critics Accused He was an unwitting participant in the Chinese soft power campaign.
Public opinion data suggests that Americans Deeply divided On how to approach China, views often divide along partisan lines.
According to Shayu Yuan, a New York-based scholar who studies Chinese soft power, this divide reflects how China is caught up in US identity politics and a highly polarized information environment.
“People who get China mainly through political and security headlines gravitate toward a threat frame,” says Yuan. “And people who get China through daily exposure and peer-to-peer culture have a more mixed view.”
Chinamaxxing’s boom on TikTok is probably no accident, says Yuan. Although the app’s algorithm is not public, Yuan points out that the platform can work on multiple levels simultaneously: “One track undermines the authority of the American narrative by highlighting content that highlights US dysfunction, and at the same time, the other track makes China look more attractive.”
People celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year by marking the Year of the Horse in Chinatown, New York on February 17, 2026 in New York City.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Hide caption
Toggle title
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Other observers see this trend less as a reflection of China and more as a mirror held up to the United States. Yi-Ling Liu, tech writer and author Wall DancersA Chinese explores the Internet, saying that infatuation reveals deep anxieties at home.
“Americans’ view of China has changed,” says Liu. “And it’s really rooted in the US’s own insecurities about its dysfunction.”
Some find the trend disturbing. Cheri Wang, a Hong Kong Canadian activist who testified before the Canadian Parliament about China’s misinformation, criticized the tendency to reduce the complexity of China’s identity to a set of tropes.
“In 2026, being Chinese is apparently cool. But before white people claim they’re drinking hot water and they’re too Chinese at the time, you need to stop,” Wang said recently. Instagram video. “A long Chinese time in my ancestry was when my grandparents saw all their schoolteachers hanged as intellectuals.”
Even well-meaning influencers with a genuine curiosity about Chinese culture can end up reproducing the state’s talking points, Wang told NPR.
Still, researcher Shayu Yuan thinks that even superficial trends like Chinamaxing can serve an unexpected purpose.
“Superficial trends can sometimes create an easy entry point because cultural rivalries and geopolitical competition put people in defensive postures,” says Yuan. “But a lifestyle thing, memes can turn the temperature down. Conversation usually starts with familiarity, not agreement.”
