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Chinamaxxing? Boiling apples won’t make you Chinese

Hot water, congee and herbal remedies have become TikTok’s answer to a “very Chinese life”. If only becoming Chinese were that simple.

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A woman wearing a traditional costume poses for a photograph on a street next to Yu Garden in Shanghai on January 21, 2026. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

A woman wearing a traditional costume poses for a photograph on a street next to Yu Garden in Shanghai, China.

PHOTO: AFP

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For a few weeks now, TikTok has been

swamped with young people announcing that they are in a “very Chinese time” of their lives

. They sip hot water, shuffle around the house in slippers, boil apples, practise qigong in parks, spoon congee into their mouths and call it “Chinamaxxing”.

The word is classic internet mash-up: “China” plus “-maxxing”, the idea of optimising your whole self around a single obsession – gymmaxxing, looksmaxxing, fibermaxxing, and now Chinamaxxing. 

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