In a turbulent world, China's soft power is being underwritten not only by pandas or Confucius, but also by its stability and certainty. The world's second-largest economy has grown on a steady course in recent years despite some China-bashers' peddling of a different narrative.

The country's economy grew by 5 percent in the first quarter of 2026, outpacing expectations of some foreign institutions and reinforcing the country's role as a stabilizing force in an increasingly volatile global economy.

Hard power, it turns out, is still the yeast that helps soft power rise.

Alongside this steady expansion, a wave of "Chinamaxxing" is occurring, a lifestyle trend among Gen Z in the United States and some other Western countries. Young people are enthusiastically importing Chinese wellness practices, aesthetics and habits into their daily lives. Think goji berries rather than geopolitics.

Scroll through social media and you'll find earnest Gen-Z influencers explaining the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine or brewing herbal tea with the solemnity of medieval clergy. It would be easy to laugh this off as yet another fleeting internet fad, but the data suggest something more substantial is afoot.

A recent Pew Research Center report indicates that favorable views about China among US people are on the rise. The emotional temperature has shifted slightly to cautious curiosity.

Part of this shift can be attributed to the popular way culture is now transmitted, via the internet. If someone in Shanghai appears to have better skin and lower stress, someone in Seattle will attempt to replicate it within 48 hours. Beneath the hashtags, however, lies a grounded reality. China's economic resilience and its high-quality development provide the material foundation for this cultural appeal.

While many Western economies grapple with volatility, China looks designed to withstand shocks. It is a place where history and the future seem to be having a productive conversation. Here, centuries-old traditions coexist with cutting-edge technology — you can pay for dumplings with your smartphone and have them delivered to you after a morning of meditation.

Equally significant is the texture of everyday life. Reports frequently highlight the safety and convenience of Chinese cities and the efficiency of their public transportation. These are not abstract virtues; they make people's lives palpably easier. And convenience is a highly exportable commodity — especially to a generation raised on frictionless apps and next-day delivery.

All of this unfolds against the backdrop of ongoing people-to-people exchanges between China and the US. The 50th anniversary of ping-pong diplomacy is a timely reminder that even the geopolitical climate can be warmed by shared human experiences — through cumulative goodwill toward one another, or a genuine willingness to agree to disagree.

Some politicians might find this intermingling of cultures inconvenient and intrusive. It is much harder to sustain a story of absolute rivalry when your people are busy borrowing the daily habits of your so-called "rival". But human connections rarely conform to political siloing.

So yes, "Chinamaxxing" may not be the most elegant of terms. But it is a small, telling sign of a larger reality: that face-to-face connections do not conform to certain politicians' narrow political agendas. And if those connections lead people to reconsider a country they were once taught to view with suspicion, then perhaps the most interesting diplomacy of our time is not happening in conference rooms — but in kitchens, living rooms, and the endlessly scrollable spaces in between.

- Li Yang, China Daily