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It’s a boon for the tourist trade.
Dit artikel komt uit The Economist
epa12895490 People sit near a restaurant in Beijing, China, 17 April 2026. EPA/WU HAO
Rongchang braised goose has been popular in a rural corner of south-west China since the Qing dynasty, but a year ago a Westerner turned it into a national sensation. In clips shared widely on both Chinese and foreign social media, a visiting American influencer is seen taking a large bite of the crispy, caramel-coloured dish. Suddenly Rongchang’s goose restaurants were overwhelmed by local tourists. Economists in the region were shocked by the power of a foreign endorsement.
Western social media’s fascination with all things Chinese has since been tagged „Chinamaxxing”. Among American Gen-Zers the tongue-in-cheek internet meme often simply means taking up common Chinese habits, such as drinking hot water or wearing house slippers. Some influencers have gone a step further and are seen online using Chinese herbal medicine, drinking Chinese beer or even puffing Zhongnanhai, a popular brand of cigarettes. Others have toured the country posting videos of its futuristic skylines.
De redactie van NRC selecteert de beste artikelen uit The Economist voor een breder perspectief op internationale politiek en economie.
What Chinamaxxing means for China is harder to say. On Chinese social media it is often translated as „Sinicisation”, or becoming Chinese. The People’s Daily, a Communist Party mouthpiece, has embraced the idea as the foreign adoption of Chinese lifestyles, dubbing it „a new wave of global cultural engagement”. As some goose farmers discovered last year, it may also bring tangible economic benefits.
One could be through tourism. Local travellers may be heading for some places featured in foreign social media, but foreign tourism is booming. Inward travel collapsed during the global pandemic, but is recovering fast. More than 35m foreigners visited last year, a record. Visitors are also spending more than they used to. How far can this be chalked up to Chinamaxxing?
A new visa-free entry programme for 55 countries seems to be a leading factor. But Xu Ziyan, a researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, argues that the social-media buzz abroad is changing how foreigners view China and drawing some to visit. In Shanghai foreigners can now be spotted in hour-long queues at tea shops that have popped up on social media—a welcome novelty for the owners.
Officials around the country are also taking note. The government of Huangshan, a mountainous area popular with hikers, said late last year that the attention on Instagram and Facebook helped to double the amount foreign tourists spent in the first nine months of 2025 from a year earlier. (Both platforms are blocked in China.)
Exposure on Instagram has also fuelled foreign demand for Chinese goods. Many influencers are demonstrating guasha tools, used to scrape the skin to the point of bruising (for some ostensible health benefit). Guasha has been a popular medical treatment for centuries, but firms that make the tools now say foreign markets are starting to matter. Orders are growing for hot-water bottles, cigarettes and more.
The excitement may max out at some point. Interest in Rongchang goose stayed high for months after the dish went viral, says a local researcher. The restaurateur who served it was even promoted to a local political advisory body. But the hubbub has died out, the researcher reports. Now things are largely back to normal.
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