Chinamaxxing

A serious campaign to maximise your good looks can now be described as looksmaxxing.  Whatever you wish to max out can be combined with -maxxing, a new productive suffix. So looksmaxxing itself can be broken down into lipsmaxxing, skinmaxxing, framemaxxing (placing an emphasis on broad shoulders), even smellmaxxing (fragrance layering).

Chinamaxxing seems not to fit into this pattern.  It turns out that this is not defecting to China or taking up Communism in a big way.  It is a China aesthetic that is being sought, not a political stance.  It is tinkering around the edges of Chinese culture in a way that could annoy a Chinese person.  You drink hot water, wear slippers inside, take Chinese herbal medicines, wear red, and enthuse about Shanghai and Chengdu.

Gen Z has observed that China has been demonised by the West, and yet their own Western culture appears to be letting them down.  The internet has revealed that there are aspects of Chinese life that they approve.  So a somewhat romanticised take on Chinese culture has become a trend.  There are now Orienfluencers that take the lead on this.  Disillusioned with the West they take refuge in the order, harmony, discipline and competence of China.  It is serendipitous that the adoption of Chinese medicines aligns with the rejection of Western medicine in favour of wellness and wholeness regimes accompanied by natural remedies.