Chinamaxxing melting stereotypes

Meaningful understanding can begin with something as simple as a cup of warm water

For some young people in the West, understanding China a little more means doing surprisingly ordinary things: drinking boiled water, making rice porridge, practicing baduanjin exercises, wearing slippers at home or having a foot bath before bed. Videos featuring such habits have appeared on social media under labels such as "Becoming Chinese" and "Chinamaxxing."

It would be easy to dismiss the trend as another internet fad. But it shows that young Westerners are discovering China in ways that differ from those of previous generations. They are encountering the country not only through political debates and international news, but also through its food, transport, neighborhoods and everyday routines.

For decades, the Western public generally learned about China through established media. Coverage often focused on geopolitics, economic competition, ideological differences and national security, projecting China primarily as a distant strategic competitor or an ideological dissenter rather than a society inhabited by ordinary people.

This is problematic when political assumptions and sensationalism produce one-sided portrayals. Some Western mainstream outlets have repeatedly emphasized conflict, threats and shortcomings while giving less attention to the complexity of Chinese society and changes in people's daily lives. As stories that do not fit the prevailing frame rarely travel as far, such one-sided coverage can shape public perceptions long before the consumers have any opportunity to experience China for themselves.

One of the consequences is that people who encounter China mainly through this lens may absorb a picture of a country defined by rivalry and threat, a picture that can influence how they view Chinese classmates, products and neighbors.

Fortunately, nowadays, more people are less inclined to move in step with such headlines. While Western mainstream media often portray China as a strategic threat, the public has made videos about boiled water, night markets and high-speed trains among the most widely watched material about the country online. That gap itself is worth examining.

This does not mean that every mainstream media report is biased, or that social media offer a complete picture. But a striking contrast is emerging between some established narratives and the experiences of people who actually visit China.

A young traveler may arrive with expectations shaped by political headlines, only to find bustling streets, efficient public transportation, lively markets and people pursuing goals much like their own. Realities encountered on a high-speed train, at a breakfast stall or in an ordinary neighborhood cannot be fully conveyed through distant political commentary.

Popular culture has shaped perceptions too, and often distorted them. For much of the past century, Hollywood and other Western entertainment industries presented China through a narrow set of images, from the sinister mastermind at The Face of Fu Manchu era and the faceless masses of "yellow peril" thrillers, to the exotic backdrop for adventure and the unnamed adversary of dystopian science fiction. Repeated for decades, such portrayals hardened into shorthand for what China is. They bear little resemblance to the country a visitor encounters today. A society of more than 1.4 billion people cannot be reduced to a villain, a backdrop or a single political storyline.

Social media has opened another window, particularly for younger audiences. They can watch peers take a high-speed train, prepare breakfast, visit a night market or spend an ordinary day in a Chinese city. Rather than seeking information about China's political system or economic performance, they are simply watching how people live. For such viewers, China becomes less abstract and more tangible.

This helps explain the appeal of "China Travel" alongside "Chinamaxxing". Both reflect a movement from observing China from a distance toward experiencing it directly. China recorded 22.91 million foreign entries in the first half of 2026, up 20.4 percent year-on-year, and 17.82 million of them were visa-free, accounting for 77.7 percent of the total, according to the National Immigration Administration.

What visitors discover is not simply a collection of viral moments. They encounter a society transformed by decades of development. For several generations of Chinese people, the road to today's everyday comfort was neither short nor easy. Many grew up when material goods were limited and transportation was inconvenient. Today, high-speed rail, mobile payments and extensive urban transportation are part of daily life. The scale of that change is easy to overlook precisely because it has become routine. What earlier generations could hardly imagine is now ordinary.

This does not mean that life in China is without pressures. Young people still face intense competition and long working hours. But they have also inherited material abundance and technological convenience that earlier generations could scarcely imagine, a contrast that foreign visitors notice precisely because Chinese residents often take it for granted. There is a lesson here too. A country's image is shaped not only by media and public diplomacy, but also by what visitors encounter when nobody is delivering a prepared message.

The reverse is equally true. A visitor who struggles to use a foreign bank card or find information in English may remember that experience just as vividly. China's openness does not end at the arrivals gate, and it is making great progress in being easier to visit via digital apps. Openness is not simply about opening the door, but about making the world behind it accessible.

The deeper significance of "Chinamaxxing" is not that every viral imitation represents profound cultural influence. Someone who starts drinking boiled water after watching a Chinese influencer may simply be curious. But curiosity matters. It can become sustained interest, and sustained interest can become understanding.

For too long, much of the world's understanding of China was shaped by distant observation, sometimes through stereotyped narratives that emphasized difference and conflict over ordinary human experience. Today, visitors can walk through Chinese cities and villages, livestream what they see and share their impressions with audiences thousands of kilometers away. No single visitor can represent China, but millions of ordinary encounters can accomplish something that official narratives cannot manufacture — familiarity.

Civilizations do not meet only in museums, universities or diplomatic conferences. They meet at breakfast tables, train stations, markets and parks, and increasingly on social media, when a foreign traveler figures out how to order breakfast or when a Chinese host explains why boiled water is commonly served.

China's task is not simply to show the world what it has achieved. It is to make its society and culture increasingly accessible to direct experience while allowing visitors the freedom to form their own impressions. Cultural exchange is not about making everyone think alike. It is about making people from different civilizations a little less unfamiliar to one another.

That is the opportunity behind "China Travel" and "Chinamaxxing". More people are encountering a changing China through the ordinary details of life. Sometimes, meaningful understanding can begin with something as simple as a bowl of hot porridge.

Hou Mingyi is an assistant professor at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Liu Wen is an associate professor at Nanning Normal University.

The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.