Is this a 'very Chinese time in your life'? Chinamaxxing trend boosts China's soft power (www.bbc.com)
from Quilotoa@lemmy.ca to world@lemmy.world on 15 Feb 2026 15:16
https://lemmy.ca/post/60475928

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Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org on 15 Feb 2026 17:32 collapse

This is not a ‘trend’ but a controlled influence campaign by the Chinese party-state.

“As a Chinese person who has been online throughout years and years of heavy Sinophobia, it felt refreshing to have the mainstream opinion finally shift regarding China,” Claire, a Chinese-Canadian TikTok user, tells BBC Chinese.

There has been no “heavy sinophobia” but reports that were and still are critical about the Chinese government. Nor does the mainstream opinion now shift as people are still if not even more aware of Beijing’s atrocities. This is just an influencer saying something like that for money, and I would like to know who pays her.

The article itself says later:

[Chinese state media and the government] have sought to portray the US as a decaying superpower because of inequality, a weak social safety net and a broken healthcare system. According to a commentary in state-owned Xinhua, the “kill line” meme “underscores how far the lived reality can drift from the ideals once broadcast to the world”.

And:

It’s little wonder that Chinese authorities are pleased with Chinamaxxing […] Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said […] he was “happy” to see foreigners experiencing the “everyday life of ordinary Chinese people”.

Sure, they are pleased. They control the entire campaign on social media.

As the article says at the end:

It’s hard to know what Chinese people make of so many things because all public conversation and activity is heavily policed. Criticising the government is risky and protests are quickly quashed.

Tere is a lot the memes making it to the West don’t show. China’s youth are facing an unemployment rate that sits at more than 15% and burning out from a gruelling work culture, yet sharing too much of their pessimism online could alert internet censors. They are worried about finding a home as the country’s property crisis continues, and dating is no easier than anywhere else.

Yes, and there is a lot more what is not displayed on Chinese social media given the state’s censorship.

The headline and the article are highly misleading imo. This is pure Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 15 Feb 2026 18:25 collapse

I don’t know about sinophobia, but there was a prevailing American hegemony that’s been burned to a crisp by Trump. It positioned America as THE important place with THE cultural values that ruled the world. With Russia sidelined as a great power and Europe firmly allied with America, everyone else was viewed as less important and worthy of respect. Countries like China were not viewed as equals, not viewed as important, not viewed as serious competition to America’s dominance. Even after Trump’s first term, even after China’s rise as an economic powerhouse, America still had so much influence through its companies, it’s culture, it’s presence in the world.

Now, China has the upper hand in basically every respect. They don’t need to reach or lie about how America is a failing empire because it is. Morality aside, China is on track to surpass the US in basically every way, fully reliant on Western nations for nothing. They have their own electronics, more energy security with renewables, a self sustaining culture that doesn’t need American exports, and a powerful military. They have a healthy amount of capital to throw around in the world, not at the behest of an independent private sector, but private sector that rejects fundamental neoliberal assumptions about free trade. They broke the global capitalist game designed to give advantage to the advantaged, taking more from than a nation at their level was supposed to.

The sinophobia that they talk about is real, but they aren’t specifically talking about bigotry. There is a racial component to seeing non-white people as less important, but the bigger slight is seeing the nation as weak. The major offence is not to people who are Chinese, but the respect owed to China. When people and country are rhetorically one in the same, there is little difference in bigotry and national disrespect.