As it’s Chinese lunar new year, it would not be surprising if you’ve found yourself scrolling through some China-inspired content. But before you click the heart on a TikTok of paper lanterns or mouthwatering noodles, think twice. As an unsuspecting citizen, you may well be participating in a geopolitical battle where western civilisation itself is on the line.
This isn’t the plot of a mediocre action thriller on Amazon Prime – this is “Chinamaxxing”, an internet trend that has got some commentators worrying that gen Z are about to topple the west from the inside.
If the word Chinamaxxing looks strangely familiar, it’s because it uses the internet’s suffix du jour, “maxxing”, which roughly translates as “drastic pursuit” of something. Examples include looksmaxxing (improving your looks to an extreme); cloutmaxxing (chasing online influence); and I kid you not, monkmaxxing (extreme self-discipline and isolation).
Accordingly, by Chinamaxxing we see TikTokers trying to quickly “become Chinese” through customs and pastimes (qigong stretches, drinking hot water in the morning, learning Mandarin on Duolingo, binge-watching Chinese period dramas etc). “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life,” reads the favoured accompanying caption. And though, sadly, there is the occasional predictably racist post, the vast majority talking of “Chinese baddies” only mean that lovingly (translation: badass).
To Chinamaxxing fans themselves, it’s a playful cultural exchange, with some Chinese-American creators noting that after years of feeling excluded because of their differences, it’s touching to see them celebrated. To some critics, this wholesale flattening of an enormous country into little more than a vibe leaves a bitter taste – and seems a bit rich when just a few years ago, east Asian diaspora communities were experiencing so much hostility as they were blamed for Covid.
But then it goes further. Even I, a pop-culture lover in my 30s, which, with the pace of current crazes, makes me 1,000-internet-years-old and grants me the prophetic powers of seeing pop culture past, present and all possible futures, was not expecting a TikTok trend to be cast as tantamount to treason.
“Chinamaxxing isn’t just a lifestyle trend,” says the New York Post. “Many of the influencers praising Chinese culture are actively denigrating America. They’re aesthetically, morally and politically defecting to another superpower.” Over on Fox News, the conversation discusses this “glamorising of living in communist China” and implores the audience to tell young Americans to love the US. Newsweek takes a softer tone, but also sees the problem. “It makes China an abstraction on to which Americans can project their anxieties about their own country.”
Now, it’s fairly obvious why this trend has rattled the American right. Trump may have abandoned the idea of soft power with his cuts to aid, but that does not mean it no longer exists. And culture is a long-established form of soft power. We, as Brits, surely know this better than anyone, given the soft power of American culture. We watch American shows, listen to American music – we feel their joy and pain – and rightly or wrongly, in doing so we also find ourselves more amenable to their brands, their politics, their power.
Fortunately for British TikTokers, Chinamaxxing doesn’t trigger the same level of suspicion, which is probably explained by Britain’s more nuanced relationship to China.
For sure, young Brits share with American peers a feeling of frustration and disillusionment that their countries are no longer places they feel secure. Across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, there is housing insecurity, with half of adults in their 20s living with their parents. Education debt is growing exponentially, and last week the UK unveiled the highest figures for youth unemployment in more than a decade. So there are reasons to not be cheerful. But does that mean Chinamaxxing is young people yearning for a China takeover? Seems a bit strong for a newly acquired interest in fruit teas. Can we all just take a breath? Perhaps have a Chinamaxxer make us a cuppa.
It strikes me that if the right is this worried, and if we genuinely want to make sure young people don’t give up on their nations, a much better use of time would be making sure those nations stop giving up on their young. Instead of hectoring gen Z about not “loving their country” as the rightwing press would like them to, offer them credible pathways to stability, and maybe a fair shot at surpassing – or at least matching – the standards of living enjoyed by their parents.
Still, I am grateful that this Chinamaxxing debate has introduced me to the hilariously absurd logic of an aesthetic defection. From Chinamaxxers to the owners of French country-style kitchens: the quislings could be anywhere, apparently. Watch out for them – be vigilant.
