Why read this: This feature inverts a debate students already know — cultural appropriation — and asks them to watch what happens when the usual script fails. For Chinese-L1 readers in EMI classrooms, the piece is doubly useful. It uses practices the readers grew up with (hot water, congee, slippers) as the concrete surface of the article, but the real subject is the Western reception: who welcomes it, who is cautious, and what kind of national mood makes borrowing from a rival country feel attractive rather than threatening. Students should finish it noticing how a trend piece does argumentative work without ever looking like argumentative writing.
What to notice: Three things reward close reading. First, the placement of the thesis — this is a 'delayed-thesis' feature: the author's strongest claim (that the trend reflects a geopolitical mood) arrives in the closing paragraph, not the opening. Students trained on topic-sentence paragraphs will miss it if they stop skim-reading three paragraphs in. Second, the density of hedging around that claim — 'perhaps reasonable to suspect,' 'for a season,' 'begin to read less like' — each hedge does real work, protecting an interpretive rather than declarative move. Third, the article's treatment of the cultural-appropriation debate: the author does not argue for or against appropriation framing; they report that Chinese creators themselves have collapsed the usual script, and let that fact reframe the debate for the reader.
Skills practised: Reading: tracking a delayed thesis across an anecdote lede; identifying hedging words as argument-bearing rather than decorative; following cross-paragraph reference chains (the trend / this case / the appetite / the algorithm); recognising literary and subcultural allusion (Fight Club, the '-maxxing' internet suffix, the Moshfegh book title) as cohesive devices. Writing: modelling calibrated modality — 'perhaps,' 'might,' 'for a season' — deliberately rather than as filler; pivoting between register blocks (formal analysis adjacent to direct TikTok-register quotation). Analysis: weighing an interpretive claim ('about more than hot tea') against its evidence base; distinguishing what the Chinese creators do from what the author reads them as signalling.
Why ‘becoming Chinese’ is taking over social media
A TikTok wellness trend inverts the usual appropriation script — and arguably reveals a geopolitical mood.
Tap any green word in the article to see its meaning.
A Chinese creatorcreator: A person who brings something into existence, especially through imaginative skill or effort. — 创造者；创作者 on TikTok, Emma Peng, opened one of the app's more unexpectedly popular clips of the year with a complimentcompliment: Complimentary language; courtesy, flattery — 恭维话；礼貌客套；奉承 many viewers did not expect: “You're doing really well at hydrating yourself. I'm proud of you.” The clip — three million views and counting — names, and gently praises, the growing roster of Americans who have begun drinking hot water with lemon, eating congee, and trading cold salads for boiled apples. Peng is one of dozens of Chinese and Chinese-American creatorscreator: A person who brings something into existence, especially through imaginative skill or effort. — 创造者；创作者 whose videos have gone viral: (of online content) spread rapidly and widely across the internet — 爆红 / 走红 this winter for doing something a previous internet cycle would have scolded: inviting outsidersoutsider: a person who does not belong to a particular group or organisation; a competitor thought unlikely to win — 局外人；外来者；非热门选手 in. Another creator at the forefront of: in the leading position of; most prominent in — 处于…前沿 the movement, TikToker Sherry Xiiruii, issues a warmer directivedirective: An instruction or guideline that indicates how to perform an action or reach a goal — 指令;指示 to her 1.4 million viewers: “Tomorrow, you're turning Chinese.”
The catch-all name for the movement is “becoming Chinese,” and while the phrasing might give pause: cause someone to stop and think, often hesitantly — 令人警觉, the substance is cheerfully specific. Habits rooted in: based on; having its origin in — 源于 traditional Chinese medicine — warm drinks in winter, house slippers indoors, congee over yogurt — are being repackaged as wellness guidanceguidance: Advice or information aimed at resolving a problem or directing someone's course of action. — 指导；引导；指南 for Western audiences who, by the creators' own framing, have been under-hydrating, under-slipperedslipper: To spank with a plimsoll as corporal punishment — 用拖鞋打(体罚), and under-comforted for years. The comment sections play along. Americans report back on what they have tried; Chinese commenters, meanwhile, ask what took them so long.
Usually, a trend that involves adopting, or “becoming,” someone else's culture draws cries of cultural appropriation: adopting elements of a marginalised culture by members of a dominant culture, often without credit or understanding — 文化挪用. Here, the usual script has collapsed. A few users have been cautiouscautious: Careful to avoid potential problems or dangers; characterised by prudence and wariness. — 谨慎的；小心翼翼的 — practices they were once made fun of for: mocked or ridiculed for (something) — passive construction with stranded preposition — 被取笑 are, overnight, being sold back to them as lifestyle content — but the response from Chinese creators has been overwhelmingly warm. One joke going around is that it is about time the rest of the world catch on: become popular; finally understand something — 流行起来 / 领悟. Framed this way, millennia-old wellness reasoningreasoning: the process of thinking logically and drawing conclusions from facts or premises — 推理；论证；逻辑思维 is not being stolen; it is finally being heard.
The appetite for: a strong desire or demand for — 热衷 / 追捧 Chinese culture is not confinedconfine: To keep or restrict someone or something within certain limits of space, scope, or quantity. — 限制；局限；禁闭 to TikTok's wellness algorithm. A viral post on X, a nod to: an acknowledgement of; a subtle reference to — 致敬 Fight Club's iconic one-liner: a famous single-sentence quote that has entered popular culture — 经典金句, reads: “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life.” In a register closer to internet parodyparody: A popular maxim, adage, or proverb — 格言；谚语, posts about chinesemaxxing: internet-trend of maximally adopting a stylised version of Chinese lifestyle aesthetics (from the '-maxxing' meme suffix) — 极致模仿中国风 — which mostly amounts to smoking a cigarette crouched low to the ground: in a deep squat posture close to the floor — 蹲得很低, wearing toggle jackets: jackets fastened with toggle-and-loop closures (a specific coat style) — 牛角扣外套, and adopting other image-marked mannerismsmannerism: Exaggerated or affected style in art, speech, or other behavior — 矫揉造作;做作风格 — have been cropping up: appearing unexpectedly or increasingly often — 不断出现 since early 2025. The videos do not read as outright mockery: clear, undisguised ridicule — 公然嘲讽, because there is a kernel of truth: a small but real element of truth inside something otherwise exaggerated — 一丝真相 and genuine admiration beneathbeneath: In or to a lower position than; under or below. — 在……下面；在……之下 the costume. As the Substack writer Minh Tran put it, things may have always been made in China, but Westerners are increasingly making themselves in the image of: modelled on; resembling in form or character — 效仿 / 模仿其样貌 the Chinese.
Commerce has followed. The Labubu mania: the 2025 craze for Labubu collectible plush toys produced by Pop Mart — 拉布布热潮 of 2025 — a year when Pop Mart, the Chinese toymaker behind the collectible, tripledtriple: To get a three-base hit — 打出三垒安打 its profits and set off a buying frenzy: a sudden, intense period of widespread purchasing — 抢购潮 that spanned the globe: reached or covered the whole world — 席卷全球 — was the single most visible object of that admiration. And for a brief moment earlier in the year, as a potential US ban on TikTok loomed, Western users began migrating to Rednote, a Chinese-owned feed, bidding farewellfarewell: A departure; the act of leaving — 离别;离去 to what many of them had taken to calling, half-jokingly, their “personal spy.” The ban did not come. Most of them stayed logged in anyway.
Given the current geopolitical context: the international-relations situation (especially US-China relations) at the time — 地缘政治背景 — a US politics many at home describe as a source of national embarrassmentembarrassment: A feeling of self-consciousness, shame, or awkwardness caused by a situation. — 尴尬；窘迫；难堪, a cross-Pacific rivalry that now touches everything from chip exports to short-form video — it is perhaps reasonable to suspect that the becoming-Chinese trend is about more than hot tea and slippers. When one country looks, for a season, as divided and tired as the United States looks now, the cultural scripts of a competitor can begin to read less like a provocationprovocation: The act of provoking, inciting or annoying someone into doing something — 挑衅;激怒 and more like an option. People are looking beyond their borders for alternative ways of living, and the algorithm is, as ever, ready to help them shop.
A Chinese creatorcreator: A person who brings something into existence, especially through imaginative skill or effort. — 创造者；创作者 on TikTok, Emma Peng, opened one of the app's more unexpectedly popular clips of the year with a complimentcompliment: Complimentary language; courtesy, flattery — 恭维话；礼貌客套；奉承 many viewers did not expect: “You're doing really well at hydrating yourself. I'm proud of you.” The clip — three million views and counting — names, and gently praises, the growing roster of Americans who have begun drinking hot water with lemon, eating congee, and trading cold salads for boiled apples. Peng is one of dozens of Chinese and Chinese-American creatorscreator: A person who brings something into existence, especially through imaginative skill or effort. — 创造者；创作者 whose videos have gone viral: (of online content) spread rapidly and widely across the internet — 爆红 / 走红 this winter for doing something a previous internet cycle would have scolded: inviting outsidersoutsider: a person who does not belong to a particular group or organisation; a competitor thought unlikely to win — 局外人；外来者；非热门选手 in. Another creator at the forefront of: in the leading position of; most prominent in — 处于…前沿 the movement, TikToker Sherry Xiiruii, issues a warmer directivedirective: An instruction or guideline that indicates how to perform an action or reach a goal — 指令;指示 to her 1.4 million viewers: “Tomorrow, you're turning Chinese.”
The catch-all name for the movement is “becoming Chinese,” and while the phrasing might give pause: cause someone to stop and think, often hesitantly — 令人警觉, the substance is cheerfully specific. Habits rooted in: based on; having its origin in — 源于 traditional Chinese medicine — warm drinks in winter, house slippers indoors, congee over yogurt — are being repackaged as wellness guidanceguidance: Advice or information aimed at resolving a problem or directing someone's course of action. — 指导；引导；指南 for Western audiences who, by the creators' own framing, have been under-hydrating, under-slipperedslipper: To spank with a plimsoll as corporal punishment — 用拖鞋打(体罚), and under-comforted for years. The comment sections play along. Americans report back on what they have tried; Chinese commenters, meanwhile, ask what took them so long.
Usually, a trend that involves adopting, or “becoming,” someone else's culture draws cries of cultural appropriation: adopting elements of a marginalised culture by members of a dominant culture, often without credit or understanding — 文化挪用. Here, the usual script has collapsed. A few users have been cautiouscautious: Careful to avoid potential problems or dangers; characterised by prudence and wariness. — 谨慎的；小心翼翼的 — practices they were once made fun of for: mocked or ridiculed for (something) — passive construction with stranded preposition — 被取笑 are, overnight, being sold back to them as lifestyle content — but the response from Chinese creators has been overwhelmingly warm. One joke going around is that it is about time the rest of the world catch on: become popular; finally understand something — 流行起来 / 领悟. Framed this way, millennia-old wellness reasoningreasoning: the process of thinking logically and drawing conclusions from facts or premises — 推理；论证；逻辑思维 is not being stolen; it is finally being heard.
The appetite for: a strong desire or demand for — 热衷 / 追捧 Chinese culture is not confinedconfine: To keep or restrict someone or something within certain limits of space, scope, or quantity. — 限制；局限；禁闭 to TikTok's wellness algorithm. A viral post on X, a nod to: an acknowledgement of; a subtle reference to — 致敬 Fight Club's iconic one-liner: a famous single-sentence quote that has entered popular culture — 经典金句, reads: “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life.” In a register closer to internet parodyparody: A popular maxim, adage, or proverb — 格言；谚语, posts about chinesemaxxing: internet-trend of maximally adopting a stylised version of Chinese lifestyle aesthetics (from the '-maxxing' meme suffix) — 极致模仿中国风 — which mostly amounts to smoking a cigarette crouched low to the ground: in a deep squat posture close to the floor — 蹲得很低, wearing toggle jackets: jackets fastened with toggle-and-loop closures (a specific coat style) — 牛角扣外套, and adopting other image-marked mannerismsmannerism: Exaggerated or affected style in art, speech, or other behavior — 矫揉造作;做作风格 — have been cropping up: appearing unexpectedly or increasingly often — 不断出现 since early 2025. The videos do not read as outright mockery: clear, undisguised ridicule — 公然嘲讽, because there is a kernel of truth: a small but real element of truth inside something otherwise exaggerated — 一丝真相 and genuine admiration beneathbeneath: In or to a lower position than; under or below. — 在……下面；在……之下 the costume. As the Substack writer Minh Tran put it, things may have always been made in China, but Westerners are increasingly making themselves in the image of: modelled on; resembling in form or character — 效仿 / 模仿其样貌 the Chinese.
Commerce has followed. The Labubu mania: the 2025 craze for Labubu collectible plush toys produced by Pop Mart — 拉布布热潮 of 2025 — a year when Pop Mart, the Chinese toymaker behind the collectible, tripledtriple: To get a three-base hit — 打出三垒安打 its profits and set off a buying frenzy: a sudden, intense period of widespread purchasing — 抢购潮 that spanned the globe: reached or covered the whole world — 席卷全球 — was the single most visible object of that admiration. And for a brief moment earlier in the year, as a potential US ban on TikTok loomed, Western users began migrating to Rednote, a Chinese-owned feed, bidding farewellfarewell: A departure; the act of leaving — 离别;离去 to what many of them had taken to calling, half-jokingly, their “personal spy.” The ban did not come. Most of them stayed logged in anyway.
Given the current geopolitical context: the international-relations situation (especially US-China relations) at the time — 地缘政治背景 — a US politics many at home describe as a source of national embarrassmentembarrassment: A feeling of self-consciousness, shame, or awkwardness caused by a situation. — 尴尬；窘迫；难堪, a cross-Pacific rivalry that now touches everything from chip exports to short-form video — it is perhaps reasonable to suspect that the becoming-Chinese trend is about more than hot tea and slippers. When one country looks, for a season, as divided and tired as the United States looks now, the cultural scripts of a competitor can begin to read less like a provocationprovocation: The act of provoking, inciting or annoying someone into doing something — 挑衅;激怒 and more like an option. People are looking beyond their borders for alternative ways of living, and the algorithm is, as ever, ready to help them shop.
Questions
Check your understanding
- 01
Which best explains why the 'becoming Chinese' trend has not been met with the usual accusation of cultural appropriation?
- 02
The author uses the Labubu mania and the brief Rednote migration to support which broader claim?
- 03
The closing paragraph is heavily hedged — 'perhaps reasonable to suspect,' 'for a season,' 'begin to read less like.' What does this hedging achieve?
- 04
Argue whether the 'becoming Chinese' trend is best understood as a wellness movement, a cultural exchange, or a reflection of American political fatigue. Use evidence from at least two different sections of the article.
Suggested length: ~100 words
- 05
The author hedges the thesis that the trend reflects a geopolitical moment rather than asserting it directly. Assess the decision to hedge: does it strengthen or weaken the argument, and what effect does the hedged framing have on the reader's response?
Suggested length: ~100 words
Questions
Check your understanding
- 01
Which best explains why the 'becoming Chinese' trend has not been met with the usual accusation of cultural appropriation?
- 02
The author uses the Labubu mania and the brief Rednote migration to support which broader claim?
- 03
The closing paragraph is heavily hedged — 'perhaps reasonable to suspect,' 'for a season,' 'begin to read less like.' What does this hedging achieve?
- 04
Argue whether the 'becoming Chinese' trend is best understood as a wellness movement, a cultural exchange, or a reflection of American political fatigue. Use evidence from at least two different sections of the article.
Suggested length: ~100 words
- 05
The author hedges the thesis that the trend reflects a geopolitical moment rather than asserting it directly. Assess the decision to hedge: does it strengthen or weaken the argument, and what effect does the hedged framing have on the reader's response?
Suggested length: ~100 words