Gen Z Fascination with China Contrasts with Reality for Exiled Journalists and Artists

Gen Z ‘Chinamaxxers’ fantasise about life in China. This journalist and this artist can never go back there

A graphic novel by Melissa Chan and Badiucao imagines China and the US at war in 2035. They hope to remind young people that ‘authoritarianism everywhere is bad’ Drinking Tsingtao beers, eating congee, walking with hands behind their backs: for many young people in western countries, “Chinamaxxing” has become all the rage. Some content creators have even gone beyond the jokes about being in “a very Chinese time in my life” and have followed this passion to the Middle Kingdom: making TikToks i...

By Kat Wong