It’s a boon for the tourist trade
Frame-mogging Mao Photograph: Getty Images
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R ongchang 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.
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.■
논증 분석
유형: causal
핵심 주장
‘Chinamaxxing’ 현상이 China의 관광 및 상품 수출에 실질적인 경제적 혜택을 가져오고 있지만, 그 효과는 일시적일 수 있다.
논리구조
- 전제: 서구 소셜미디어에서 중국 문화·생활양식에 대한 관심이 ‘Chinamaxxing’이라는 밈으로 확산되었으며, People’s Daily는 이를 ‘글로벌 문화 참여의 새로운 물결’로 규정하며 긍정적으로 수용했다.
- 논거: 외국인 관광이 급격히 회복 중이다. 지난해 3,500만 명 이상의 외국인이 China를 방문해 역대 최고 기록을 세웠으며, 1인당 지출 금액도 증가했다.
- 논거: 55개국 무비자 입국 프로그램이 관광 증가의 주요 요인으로 꼽히지만, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences의 연구자 Xu Ziyan은 해외 소셜미디어의 버즈가 외국인들의 China 인식을 바꾸고 방문을 유도하고 있다고 주장한다.
- 논거: Huangshan 지방 정부는 Instagram과 Facebook 노출 덕분에 2025년 1~9월 외국인 관광 지출이 전년 대비 두 배로 증가했다고 밝혔다. (두 플랫폼 모두 China 내에서는 차단되어 있음에도 불구하고.)
- 논거: ‘Chinamaxxing’은 관광뿐 아니라 상품 수출에도 영향을 미쳐, guasha 도구, 온수 보온병, 담배 등 중국 전통 상품에 대한 해외 주문이 증가하고 있다.
- 반론: Rongchang 훈제 거위 사례처럼, 소셜미디어 바이럴 효과로 촉발된 관광 수요는 수개월 후 소멸하고 원래 수준으로 돌아갔다. ‘Chinamaxxing’의 경제적 효과도 정점을 찍고 사그라들 가능성이 있다.
결론
‘Chinamaxxing’은 China의 관광과 소비재 수출에 실질적 경제 효과를 주고 있으나, 바이럴 현상의 일시성을 고려할 때 그 지속 가능성은 불확실하다.
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