海外Z世代为何开始“粉”中国？请看这7个“中国风”热词

海外Z世代为何开始“粉”中国？请看这7个“中国风”热词

Why  Are Gen-Z Overseas Becoming Fans of China? Check Out These 7 China-Related Buzzwords 

外国游客在崂山游览。（□新华社发）

从“看见”到“变成”，世界正在重新认识中国。

2026年，打开TikTok、Instagram或者YouTube，大概率会被一群年轻人刷屏：他们早起喝热水、睡前泡脚、穿着居家棉拖溜达，还一本正经地宣布——“我变成中国人了”。

这不是段子，是一场真真切切的全球风潮。从旅游、购物，到安全感、基建速度，世界对中国的认知，正在被这届年轻人加速刷新。

From "seeing" to "becoming", the world is getting to know China all over again.

In 2026, if you open TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, chances are your feed will be flooded with young people—getting up early to drink hot water, soaking their feet before bed, shuffling around in cotton house slippers, and solemnly declaring, "I've become Chinese."

This isn't a joke. It's a genuine global trend. From travel and shopping to a sense of safety and infrastructure efficiency, the world's perception of China is being rapidly refreshed, fueled by this generation's everyday choices and behavior.

China Travel（中国游）

老挝游客在曲阜参观。（□新华社发）

这股热潮的起点，是2023年11月。中国把72/144小时过境免签政策的适用国家扩到了54个，“说走就走”变得触手可及。

从“观光打卡”转向“深度体验”。2026年上半年，中国入境外国人达到2291.4万人次，同比涨了20.4%，其中免签入境1781.5万人次，占比77.7%。在山东，外国游客在“红瓦绿树、碧海蓝天”的青岛CityWalk，在孔子故里触摸“具象化的儒家文化”……

This wave of enthusiasm can be traced back to November 2023, when China expanded its 72/144-hour visa-free transit policies to cover 54 countries. Suddenly, spontaneous travel to China wasn't just a dream. It was one flight away.

Tourism here has shifted from tick-box sightseeing to something far more immersive. China recorded 22.914 million inbound trips by foreign nationals in the first half of 2026, up 20.4 percent year on year. Of those, 17.815 million, or 77.7%, came in visa-free. In Shandong, foreign tourists take a city walk in Qingdao, a city famous for russet tiles and green trees, verdant mountains and azure seas. While in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, they experience Confucian culture brought vividly to life.

China Safety（中国式安全感）

4月22日，一名印度游客在重庆市渝中区洪崖洞景区放松自拍。（□新华社发）

凌晨两点，女生敢独自上街买夜宵；快递放门口三天忘了拿，还在。这在中国只是日常，却是不少外国人眼中奢侈的安全感。

盖洛普发布的《2025年全球安全报告》显示，中国民众安全感排名全球第三，法律与秩序指数全球第四。2026年，“中国式安全感”成为跨文化传播中最具热度的话题之一。

At 2am, a woman can walk out alone to grab a late-night snack without a second thought. A package left outside the door for three days and it's still there, untouched. In China, this is just everyday life. But to many foreigners, it's a rare luxury: the luxury of feeling safe.

According to Gallup's Global Safety Report 2025, China has been ranked as the third safest place globally and fourth in the Law and Order Index, both ahead of several Western countries. In 2026, "China Safety" has become one of the hottest topics in cross-cultural conversation online.

China Shopping （中国购）

西班牙游客在上海南京路步行街华为商店里浏览手机产品。（□新华社发）

“中国购”这个词，最早其实是海外华人的小众操作。真正的转折点出现在2024年圣诞节前后——YouTube和TikTok上突然涌现大量“如何在中国电商平台购物”的教程视频，“How to shop on TAOBAO”成为热门搜索词，“中国购”从小众需求变成了国际趋势。

2026年7月，中国离境退税2.0版政策落地，“即买即退”、异地互认全面铺开，“带着空箱子去中国”“必买清单”成了海外社交平台的高频梗。

拿山东来说，化妆品、服装、电子产品稳坐带动外国游客消费的三大支柱；曹县汉服更是被中外网友追捧，2025年销售额超130亿元。老外也学会了“抄作业”——从“随机买”到“攻略购”，提前在小红书、TikTok上种草，到店精准拔草，消费姿势越来越“懂行”。

The term "China Shopping" originally referred to a niche practice among Chinese communities overseas. The real turning point came around Christmas 2024, when YouTube and TikTok were suddenly flooded with tutorials on how to shop on Chinese e-commerce platforms. "How to shop on Taobao" became a trending search, and buying directly from China has gone from a niche pursuit to a global trend.

In July 2026, China rolled out its upgraded departure tax refund policy. With immediate refunds upon purchase and cross-regional recognition now widely available, the ideas of "bringing an empty suitcase to China" and "China must-buy list" became recurring memes across international social media.

Take Shandong Province, for example: cosmetics, clothing, and electronics are the three main drivers of spending by international visitors. Hanfu from Caoxian County has also become a hit with both Chinese and overseas consumers, generating more than RMB 13 billion in sales in 2025. Foreign shoppers have learned to "copy the homework", moving from impulse purchases to carefully planned shopping. They now discover products in advance on Xiaohongshu and TikTok, then head straight to stores to buy exactly what they want. In short, they are becoming increasingly savvy consumers.

Becoming Chinese（变身中国人）

2月17日，外国游客在广东肇庆宋城骑楼街观赏龙狮巡游。（□新华社发）

故事的主角，是23岁的华裔女孩朱溪瑞（Sherry Zhu）。2025年12月6日，朱溪瑞在TikTok上发了一条20秒的短视频，宣布“从明天开始，你要变成中国人了。”然后列出一份“中式生活守则”：进门换棉拖鞋、早餐喝热粥、戒掉冰饮、注意保暖。一夜之间，播放量破百万，评论区被“我正在变成中国人”刷屏。

到了2026年，“Becoming Chinese”登上全球各大社交平台热搜，相关标签累计播放量突破40亿次，BBC、《纽约时报》、彭博社都作了专题报道。

At the center of the story is Sherry Zhu, a 23-year-old woman of Chinese heritage. On December 6, 2025, Zhu posted a 20-second video on TikTok declaring, "Tomorrow you are turning Chinese". She then laid out a set of rules for living the Chinese way: slip into cozy house slippers when you get home, have hot congee for breakfast, skip iced drinks and make sure to keep warm.

The video surpassed one million views overnight, while the comments were flooded with people saying, "I'm Chinese."

By 2026, "Becoming Chinese" was trending across major social media platforms worldwide. Videos under related hashtags had amassed more than four billion views, and the phenomenon was featured in special reports by the BBC, The New York Times, and Bloomberg.

China Speed（中国速度）

贵州花江峡谷大桥。（□新华社发）

2026年5月18日，马斯克在X上转发了一条重庆东站的短视频。结果，2小时阅读量破500万，6小时破2000万。评论区被一句话刷屏：“为什么我们做不到？”

其实，China Speed是个老词，马斯克也早就是“中国基建迷弟”了——2018年，他就夸过中国工人9小时改造铁路站，说“比美国快100多倍”；2022年，还专门坐高铁去西安看兵马俑。

重庆东站总建筑面积相当于170个标准足球场，从开工到投用只用了38个月。相比之下，美国加州高铁2008年立项、十几年还没铺完铁轨。到2025年底，中国高铁运营里程已经突破5万公里，领跑世界。

On May 18, 2026, Elon Musk reposted a short video of Chongqingdong Railway Station on X. Within two hours, the post had drawn more than five million views; within six hours, that figure had passed 20 million. The replies were flooded with a single question: "Why can't we do this?"

"China Speed" is hardly a new phrase, and Musk has long been an admirer of Chinese infrastructure. In 2018, he praised a railway-station upgrade completed by Chinese workers in less than nine hours, writing, "China's progress in advanced infrastructure is more than 100 times faster than the US". In 2022, he also recalled taking a high-speed train from Beijing to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Army.

With a total floor area equivalent to 170 standard football fields, Chongqingdong Railway Station took just 38 months to build—from groundbreaking to opening. By comparison, California's high-speed rail project was approved by voters in 2008, yet nearly two decades later, it had still not laid any track.

By the end of 2025, China's high-speed rail network had surpassed 50,000 kilometers in operational length, the longest in the world.

Chinamaxxing（中式生活极致体验）

3月18日，当地太极拳爱好者在卢旺达大学孔子学院练习太极拳。（□新华社发）

“Maxxing”是欧美Z世代爱用的网络后缀，意思是“拉满、最大化”，从“颜值进阶”到“睡眠拉满”，什么都能Maxxing。

当它遇上“China”，就成了Chinamaxxing：把中式生活体验拉到极致。它跟Becoming Chinese算是同源兄弟——2025年底朱溪瑞的视频火了之后，“Maxxing”这个构词法被嫁接过来，2026年初全面流行。

具体咋Maxxing的？喝热水、练八段锦、做针灸拔罐、追中国剧、定制旗袍等等，都包括在内。如今“中式康养+中式审美+中式便利”体验三件套成了新晋顶流赛道。

"Maxxing" is a suffix popular among Gen Z in the West. It means maximizing or optimizing something—whether it is your looks, your sleep, or virtually any other aspect of life.

Combine it with "China," and you get "Chinamaxxing": embracing the Chinese lifestyle to the fullest. It is closely related to the "Becoming Chinese" trend. After Sherry Zhu's videos went viral in late 2025, the "-maxxing" formulation was applied to the phenomenon, and the term took off in early 2026.

So what does Chinamaxxing actually involve? It can mean drinking hot water, practicing Baduanjin, trying acupuncture and cupping, binge-watching Chinese dramas, or having a Qipao custom-made. Today, Chinese wellness practices, Chinese aesthetics, and the conveniences of modern Chinese life have emerged as one of social media's hottest lifestyle trends.

China Cool（中国又酷又凉爽）

韩国游客在青岛海边游玩。（□新华社发）

七个热词里面，“China Cool”出现得最晚，但来势最猛。

2026年夏天，欧洲遭遇极端热浪，多地气温突破40℃。空调装不起、老建筑没法装，怎么办？有的赶紧下单中国空调，有的干脆订机票来中国避暑——这成了不少欧洲网友的“基本操作”。

中国品牌的空调、风扇帽、便携小风扇，在欧洲卖火了；与此同时，大批欧洲游客来华旅游，在TikTok上分享跨国纳凉日常。“China Cool”就这么成了海外社交平台的高频词。

它一语双关：既指中国的避暑资源，也暗含了对中国高效、宜居生活说出的那句“真酷”。

Of the seven buzzwords, "China Cool" was the last to emerge, but it caught on with remarkable speed.

In the summer of 2026, Europe was hit by an extreme heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 40℃ in many places. Air conditioning was either too expensive to install or simply incompatible with older buildings. So what could people do? Some rushed to order Chinese-made air conditioners; others went a step further and booked flights to China to escape the heat. For many European social media users, these became the go-to ways to stay cool.

Chinese air conditioners, fan-equipped hats, and portable handheld fans became hot sellers across Europe. At the same time, growing numbers of European tourists traveled to China and shared videos on TikTok showing how they were beating the heat there. That was how "China Cool" became a recurring phrase on social media overseas.

The phrase is a play on words. It refers both to China's cool-weather destinations and abundant ways to escape the summer heat, and to a broader sense that China's efficient, comfortable way of life is, quite simply, "cool."