Chinese New Year might soon be concluding, but that doesn’t mean you cannot continue this “very Chinese time” of your life.
After all, we are in the thick of a social media trend of “becoming Chinese”, popularised by Gen Z, in which the norms and traditions typically associated with Chinese culture are embraced, particularly by non-Chinese in the West: sipping hot water, wearing house slippers, consuming traditional Chinese medicine, acquiring “made in China” products, practising tai chi …
Such “Chinamaxxing” has come to global attention in recent times. It was sparked by X user @girl__virus’ post in April 2025, stating, “you met me at a very chinese time in my life” – a parody of Fight Club’s “You met me at a very strange time in my life” – and Chinese-American TikTok content creator Sherry Zhu’s tongue-in-cheek instructions on becoming a “Chinese baddie” a few months ago.
The practice of “maxxing” itself, however, has been around for a while.
