A very Chinese time? How memes are paving the way for a soft power shift

Drinking hot water, eating warm congee and dressing in red to pray for good luck are daily rituals shared by social media users across the globe who have embraced a new lifestyle trend, declaring: “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life.”

The phrase has been popularised over the past year by influencers on TikTok and Instagram who post themselves performing stereotypically Chinese activities.

The trend reflects a positive shift in how China, or “Chineseness”, is perceived globally.

This has been partly shaped by political fatigue and polarisation in the United States, according to observers. However, some cautioned that it was unlikely to translate into a sustained change in attitudes towards China as a nation-state.

Shaoyu Yuan, an expert on soft power at New York University, said the trend reflected a broader transformation in how people experienced China online: not through official messaging or political headlines, but increasingly through entertainment, food and lifestyle routines.

He said this exposure made “Chineseness” feel familiar rather than foreign, and the perception of the trend as “authentic and playful” rather than forced was helpful for building soft power.

South China Morning Post