编者按：“极致中国化”（Chinamaxxing）浪潮在全球持续升温，引发国际社会广泛关注。2026年2月21日，中国人民大学重阳金融研究院院长、全球领导力学院院长王文在发文指出，“极致中国化”并非仅限于社交媒体上的奇闻轶事，它更像是一个文化晴雨表，反映着多极世界中人们对领导力的期望正在发生转变，也标志着全球文化格局正趋于多元化。同日，文章中文版在发布。现将中文译文及英文原文发布如下： （中文译文约4100字，预计阅读时间11分钟）
▲原文2026年2月21日发布于美国《国际政策文摘》，原题为《TikTok一代的中国化浪潮》
2026年，国际政治研究界或许忽略了一个意义深远的文化震荡：社交媒体上“Chinamaxxing”（极致中国化）的兴起。这个词由“China”（中国）和游戏俚语“maxxing”（优化生活）组合而成，在TikTok和Instagram上迅速传播开来，这主要得益于西方Z世代用户对中国文化的尝试，他们从早上喝热水到练习八段锦（中国流传数百年的健身操）无所不包。
自2025年以来，（成为中国人）、（我想成为中国人）和（非常中国人）等话题标签的总浏览量已超过40亿次。乍看之下，这似乎只是对美学的模仿或转瞬即逝的潮流文化，但实际上却暗示着更深远的意义：一代人对权力、繁荣和领导力的重新审视。
海外的年轻人并非只是在模仿生活方式的怪癖。他们以微妙却可衡量的方式，表达了对当代中国社会逻辑的好奇。这些仪式——健康生活方式、极简消费习惯、数字平台和创业雄心——如同一扇大门，引领人们更广泛地迷恋上一些人眼中的另类发展模式。
在国际拥趸眼中，中国代表着包容性、基础设施建设能力以及以物质提升为目标的治国之道。因此，“极致中国化”现象与其说是一种角色扮演，不如说是一种态度。它反映了西方青年群体情绪的转变：他们对西方各国国内的政治极化感到失望，并渴望在海外寻求认同感。
数据也印证了这种文化趋势。调查显示，美国Z世代如今花费在网络上搜索中国相关内容的时间是老一代人的两倍多，其中18至24岁年龄段的年轻人表现出最高的文化好奇心和认同感。
英国“2025年全球软实力指数”报告，将中国列为全球第二，并指出中国在国际年轻受访者中尤其具有强大的影响力。2025年，中国短剧在海外累计下载量达12.1亿次，创造了23.8亿美元的收入。电子游戏《黑神话：悟空》全球销售额突破10亿美元。源自中国的在线文学平台拥有3.5亿海外用户。
这些数字不仅仅标志着出口的成功，更表明全球文化格局正趋于多元化。中国本土内容——以数字技术为载体，面向年轻人，并精通平台运作——无需传统文化外交的繁琐运作，便找到了受众。这并非强加意识形态，而是自愿接受某种风格和审美。对许多国际年轻观众而言，中国的吸引力在于秩序、向上流动和科技活力所带来的希望。
国际人口结构放大了这种中国影响力。各国年轻人不仅塑造了消费趋势，也塑造了未来国际政治的道德话语。他们通过点赞、分享、粉丝翻译和模仿，构建了“去西方中心化”的中国话语渠道。
赴华旅游人数的增长也为这种数字时代的热情提供了现实的佐证。2025年，中国接待外国游客8203.5万人次，同比增长26.4%。2026年春节期间，入境航班预订量较上年增长四倍多；俄罗斯游客入境人数更是激增471%。中国将免签政策扩展至48个国家，使各国民众从网络上的好奇心转化为切身的体验。
亲身经历往往能改变人们的固有观念。赴华游客们会发现，高铁连接着一座座大都市，无现金支付生态系统模糊了线上线下交易的界限，而充满活力的小规模创业社区也令人耳目一新。无论他们离开时是深信不疑，还是心存疑虑，他们的印象都会对既有的对华认知产生影响。从这个意义上讲，青年跨境流动性已成为一种比任何新闻稿都更具影响力的软实力载体。
中国的支持者认为，中国的全球吸引力源于其独特的全球化愿景——一种基于互利共赢而非主导地位的全球化愿景。他们将此与他们所描述的以军事优势、金融杠杆和价值观输出为特征的“美国化”世纪进行对比。中国偏爱的措辞——“共商、共建、共享”——旨在塑造包容性发展的形象。
“一带一路”倡议启动十三年后，已发展成为一个庞大的基础设施走廊和贸易协定网络。中国与参与国的贸易额目前约占中国对外贸易总额的45%。累计投资已超过1万亿美元。据报道创造了超过100万个当地就业岗位。中国国内的减贫运动使7.7亿人摆脱了贫困——占近几十年来全球减贫总数的70%以上——这被视为中国共产党执政能力的有力证明。亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲各国政府都曾研究过中国有针对性的扶贫战略，希望能够复制其成功经验。
在全球外交领域，中国也一直努力将自身塑造成调解者而非强制执行者。中国在促成沙特阿拉伯和伊朗关系缓和方面发挥的作用，标志着中东地缘政治格局的一个重要转折点。中国官员称其采取的是耐心且非强制性的方式，强调对话而非制裁。调查显示，超过80%的全球公众认可中国日益增强的综合国力。
在中国支持者看来，这标志着一种对“全球南方”国家具有吸引力的发展模式的出现，这种模式甚至对发达经济体也越来越具有现实意义。
▲2026年2月21日，观察者网发布文章中文版
然而，西方学术界和政策界一直难以将这些转变纳入既有的认知框架之中。许多机构仍然主要从冷战对抗和权力现实主义的视角来分析中国，常常将中国视为“规则破坏者”或“经济胁迫”的实施者。
对此的批评声音认为，这种固有框架掩盖了中国国内成就和国际参与的复杂性。某些西方媒体对中国的正面报道寥寥无几，而耸人听闻的叙述，例如匿名消息来源、最坏情况预测和战略性危言耸听，却经常占据头条。
对中国的支持者认为，这种认知差距导致西方对全球变化的评估滞后。如果政策制定者依赖过时的假设，他们就有可能误判中国领导力的深度以及促使年轻一代移居他国的不满情绪。“极致中国化”浪潮在很大程度上被严肃的政策讨论所忽视，这恰恰体现了这种西方盲点。
试图通过技术封锁、贸易脱钩和巩固联盟来遏制中国的西方尝试，其结果是喜忧参半的。尽管美国将这些措施视为必要的保障措施，但分析中国的人士指出，中国的全球净善意评分为8.8，而美国仅为-1.5，而且在最近的排名中，八项软实力指标中，中国有六项都有所提升。在这种叙事中，对华遏制反而强化了这种中美对比。美国对华遏制越大，中国就越能展现出自身的韧性和原则性。
对许多发展中国家而言，中国模式的吸引力不在于意识形态，而在于实际政绩。从这个角度来看，衡量全球领导力的标准，并非对外制裁的规模或航母的国际部署，而是道路的修建、医院的人员配备以及收入的提高。
中国的国内政绩提供了切实可见的指标。中国已建成全球规模最大的教育、社会保障和医疗卫生体系。基本医疗保险覆盖了13.3亿人口。九年义务教育的完成率达到了95.9%。新生儿死亡率低于中高收入国家的平均水平。
这种以人为本的治理方式支撑着中国的合法性叙事。国家发展被视为与14亿公民的福祉密不可分。五年规划、数字化治理平台和精准扶贫项目不仅被视为国内政策，更被视为可输出的模板。
那些希望长期规划国际发展框架或数据驱动型福利体系的国家常常援引中国的经验。这种认同感并非出于军事考量，而是出于务实而非军事目的。它反映了国际社会对稳定和物质改善的共同渴望。
从更广阔的视角来看，“极致中国化”不再仅仅是对生活方式的模仿，而是更多地体现了代际认同，以及对另一种现代性叙事的认同。这表明全球青年愿意质疑既有的声望等级制度。曾经被认为自西方向东方流动的文化领导力，如今却通过算法潮流进行传播。这种潮流更注重创新和实现表现，而非是否出身于西方。
这种转变是否预示着全球领导力格局的持久重塑，仍是一个悬而未决的问题。国际权力转移很少是线性的，网络上的赞赏也并非必然转化为地缘政治上的忠诚。
然而，当前的这些新趋势不容忽视。随着越来越多的年轻人通过网络与中国互动，以及越来越多的各国政府研究中国的发展战略，国际影响力的架构正在不断多元化。
新兴秩序并非必然以一个霸权取代另一个霸权。相反，它预示着一个更加多元化的体系的到来。在这个体系中，合法性是通过治理成果和文化共鸣来赢得的。
如果说20世纪的全球领导力是由意识形态集团和军事联盟定义的，那么，21世纪的全球领导力格局或许将由谁的模式最能令人信服地带来尊严和繁荣的竞争来塑造。
因此，“极致中国化”并非仅限于社交媒体上的奇闻轶事，它更像是一个文化晴雨表，反映着多极世界中人们对领导力的期望正在发生转变。
中国的崛起——以民生、包容和互利共赢为基石——吸引了那些年纪尚轻、未亲历冷战，且对国内渐进式改革缺乏耐心的各国年轻人。随着这一代人的成长，他们的偏好很可能将影响全球权力格局的走向。
正在发生的并非仅仅是一种趋势，而是一场测试。21世纪的大国竞争，与其说比的是对他国的征服，不如说比的是国家公信力：那就是谁能建立这样一个社会，既能满足公民需求，又能让他人效仿。目前，越来越多的全球青年似乎愿意尝试寻找新的答案。
英文原文
The TikTok Generation’s China Turn
WANG Wen
In 2026, much of the international political research community may have missed a telling cultural tremor: the rise of "Chinamaxxing" on social media. The term—a portmanteau of "China" and the gaming slang "maxxing," meaning to optimize one's life—has surged across TikTok and Instagram feeds, propelled by Western Gen Z users experimenting with everything from drinking hot water in the morning to practicing Baduanjin, the centuries-old Chinese exercise regimen.
Hashtags such as , , and have collectively drawn more than 4 billion views since 2025. What might appear, at first glance, as aesthetic mimicry or fleeting trend culture instead hints at something more consequential: a generational reappraisal of power, prosperity, and leadership.
Young people abroad are not simply copying lifestyle quirks. They are, in subtle but measurable ways, signaling curiosity about the social logic behind contemporary China. The rituals—wellness routines, minimalist consumption habits, digital platforms, and entrepreneurial ambition—serve as gateways to a broader fascination with what some see as an alternative development model. For its admirers, China represents inclusiveness, infrastructural competence, and a brand of statecraft centered on material uplift. The phenomenon of Chinamaxxing, then, is less cosplay than commentary. It reflects a shifting mood among Western youth disillusioned with polarization at home and searching for coherence abroad.
The data reinforce this cultural drift. Surveys suggest that Gen Z in the United States now spends more than twice as much time as older cohorts seeking out Chinese-related content online, with the 18–24 age group expressing the highest levels of cultural curiosity and identification. The United Kingdom's 2025 Global Soft Power Index ranks China second worldwide, noting particularly strong resonance among younger respondents. Chinese short-form dramas have amassed 1.21 billion overseas downloads and generated $2.38 billion in revenue. The video game Black Myth: Wukong surpassed $1 billion in global sales. Online literature platforms originating in China report 350 million overseas users.
Such figures do not merely signal export success; they suggest that the architecture of global culture is becoming more multipolar. Chinese content—digitally native, youth-oriented, and platform-savvy—has found an audience without the heavy machinery of traditional cultural diplomacy. This is not the forced projection of ideology but the voluntary adoption of style and sensibility. For many young viewers, the appeal lies in the promise of order, upward mobility, and technological dynamism.
Demography magnifies the effect. Young people shape not only consumer trends but also the future moral vocabulary of international politics. They are constructing decentralized channels for Chinese discourse through likes, shares, fan translations, and imitation. Tourism numbers offer a physical counterpart to digital enthusiasm. In 2025, China recorded 82 million foreign visitors, a year-on-year increase of 26.4 percent. During the 2026 Spring Festival period, bookings for inbound flights rose more than fourfold compared with the previous year; Russian tourist arrivals jumped by 471 percent. The expansion of China's visa-free policy to 48 countries has transformed online curiosity into lived experience.
Firsthand exposure often tempers preconception. Visitors encounter megacities stitched together by high-speed rail, cashless payment ecosystems that blur the line between physical and digital commerce, and neighborhoods animated by small-scale entrepreneurship. Whether they depart persuaded or skeptical, their impressions complicate inherited narratives. In this sense, youth mobility has become a vector of soft power more potent than any press release.
China's advocates frame its global attractiveness as the product of a distinct vision of globalization—one premised on mutual gain rather than dominance. They contrast this with what they characterize as a century of Americanization marked by military primacy, financial leverage, and the export of values. Beijing's preferred vocabulary—"consultation, joint construction, shared benefits"—seeks to project an image of inclusive development.
Thirteen years after its launch, the Belt and Road Initiative has grown into a sprawling network of infrastructure corridors and trade agreements. Commerce with participating countries now accounts for roughly 45 percent of China's total foreign trade. Cumulative investment has exceeded $1 trillion, with more than one million local jobs reportedly created. China's domestic poverty reduction campaign, which lifted 770 million people out of poverty—over 70 percent of global poverty alleviation in recent decades—has been held up as proof of administrative capacity. Governments across Asia, Africa, and Latin America have studied its targeted poverty alleviation strategies in hopes of replicating them.
In global diplomacy, China has also sought to brand itself as mediator rather than enforcer. Its role in facilitating rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran marked a notable moment in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Officials describe their approach as patient and noncoercive, emphasizing dialogue over sanctions. Surveys suggest that more than 80 percent of the global public acknowledges China's rising comprehensive national strength. To supporters, this signals the emergence of a development paradigm attractive to the Global South and increasingly relevant even to advanced economies.
Yet Western academia and policy circles have struggled to assimilate these shifts into established frameworks. Many institutions continue to analyze China primarily through the lenses of Cold War rivalry and power realism, often casting it as a "rule-breaker" or practitioner of "economic coercion." Critics argue that such framings obscure the complexity of China's domestic achievements and international engagement. Positive coverage in certain Western outlets remains sparse, while sensational narratives like anonymous sources, worst-case projections, and strategic alarmism frequently dominate headlines.
This cognitive gap, proponents contend, produces a lag in Western assessments of global change. If policymakers rely on outdated assumptions, they risk misreading both the depth of China's appeal and the dissatisfaction driving younger generations elsewhere. The wave of Chinamaxxing, largely absent from serious policy discourse, becomes emblematic of that blind spot.
Attempts to counter China through technological blockades, trade decoupling, and alliance consolidation have yielded ambiguous results. While Washington has framed such measures as necessary safeguards, Chinese analysts note that China's global net goodwill rating stands at 8.8, compared with -1.5 for the United States, and that six of eight soft power indicators have improved in recent rankings. Suppression, in this telling, sharpens contrast. The more overt the pressure, the more Beijing can present itself as resilient and principled.
For many in the developing world, the appeal of China's model lies less in ideology than in performance. Leadership, from this vantage point, is measured not by sanctions imposed or aircraft carriers deployed but by roads built, hospitals staffed, and incomes raised. China's domestic record—whatever its imperfections—offers tangible metrics. The country has constructed the world's largest education, social security, and healthcare systems. Basic medical insurance now covers 1.33 billion people. The consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education has reached 95.9 percent. Neonatal mortality rates fall below the average of middle- and high-income countries.
This emphasis on people-centered governance undergirds Beijing's narrative of legitimacy. National development is framed as inseparable from the well-being of 1.4 billion citizens. Five-year plans, digital governance platforms, and targeted poverty alleviation programs are presented not merely as domestic policies but as exportable templates. Countries experimenting with long-term planning frameworks or data-driven welfare systems often cite Chinese precedents. The alignment is pragmatic rather than military; it reflects a shared aspiration for stability and material improvement.
Chinamaxxing, in this broader light, becomes less about lifestyle mimicry and more about generational alignment with a different story of modernity. It suggests that global youth are willing to interrogate inherited hierarchies of prestige. Cultural leadership, once assumed to flow from West to East, now circulates through algorithmic currents that privilege novelty and performance over pedigree.
Whether this shift heralds a durable reordering of global leadership remains an open question. Power transitions are rarely linear, and admiration online does not automatically translate into geopolitical allegiance. Yet the trend lines are difficult to ignore. As more young people engage with China—digitally and physically—and as more governments study its developmental strategies, the architecture of international influence continues to diversify.
The emerging order does not necessarily supplant one hegemon with another. Instead, it gestures toward a more pluralistic system in which legitimacy is earned through governance outcomes and cultural resonance. If the twentieth century was defined by ideological blocs and military alignments, the twenty-first may be shaped by competition over whose model most convincingly delivers dignity and prosperity.
The rise of Chinamaxxing is thus not a curiosity confined to social media feeds. It is a cultural barometer of shifting expectations about what leadership looks like in a multipolar world. China's ascent—grounded in livelihood, inclusiveness, and claims of mutual benefit—has found an audience among those too young to remember the Cold War and too impatient for incremental reform at home. As that generation matures, its preferences may well help determine the contours of global power.
What is unfolding is not simply a trend but a test. The contest for the twenty-first century will hinge less on conquest than on credibility: who can build a society that satisfies its citizens and persuades others to emulate it. For now, a growing cohort of global youth appears willing to experiment with the answer.
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