I Did Not Meet You “At a Very Chinese Time of Your Life"

Entrance to the Forbidden City, Beijing. (Photo Credit: calflier001)

“You met me at a very Chinese time of my life.” The phrase has taken over social media since it was coined by Chinese-American TikToker @sherryxiiruii, who uses her platform to share cultural insights about China. Her primary business is advertising traditional Chinese medicine practices to her audience, such as avoiding cold foods and wearing house slippers for winter. In a video from early January, Rui detailed small “Chinese” habits while telling viewers they were “turning Chinese” and shouldn’t fight it: “Tomorrow, you’re turning Chinese. I know it sounds intimidating, but resisting it now is pointless.”

Overnight, Americans ran with it. Videos of Americans practicing qigong stretches in pajamas purchased at TJ Maxx and eating congee for breakfast to attempting gua sha facial scraping or tongue diagnosis for the "health vibes" spread all over the internet. Over 1.5 million TikTok videos now carry the phrase. While seemingly harmless, this trend reflects something more troubling: the CCP's steady expansion of soft power into Western culture. The United States cannot allow this influence to quietly erode the freedoms Americans have defended for 250 years.

The contrast is striking. During the pandemic, Americans worried about anti-Asian hate crimes. Now, a new generation is embracing Chinese culture as a trend. What Americans treat as a passing meme, Chinese state media has welcomed as a cultural victory. China’s state-run news channel CCTV hailed it as proof of growing soft power in a January 17 editorial: “Many young people abroad hold a favorable view of China.”

However, this is not new. The “turning Chinese” trend first gained traction through Labubu, the bug-eyed stuffed creatures that racked up over $500 million in sales in 2025. Before “Chinese time” went viral, commentators argued Labubu represented China's growing cultural influence and a threat for the next chapter of geopolitics. 

In the past, Western brands would look East for new markets and growth opportunities. Today, Eastern brands are forcing Western companies to defend their home markets, which were once taken for granted. The flow of cultural influence and capital is reversing. 

A bug-eyed creature and TikTok terminology are accomplishing what China’s leaders have long coveted: genuine, unforced penetration into Western cultural consciousness. These small encroachments may represent China's first authentic soft power win of the modern era. Add TikTok — owned by Beijing's ByteDance — and Genshin Impact's hundreds of millions of players worldwide to this picture, and the pattern becomes clear. Many Americans overlook this: TikTok remains tethered to a Chinese company based in Beijing, despite its global facade.

As in most cases, the problem starts at home. Americans are developing friendlier attitudes toward China than in previous years, according to Pew Research Center's polling. Fewer now consider China an enemy or say it poses the greatest threat to the U.S., dropping from 81% in 2024 to 77% in 2025—the first significant decline in five years. Negative attitudes toward China are softening even among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents—82% of Republicans/leaners find China unfavorable, down 8 points since 2024. Unfavorable views among Democrats declined by 5 points.

This shift did not emerge overnight, nor can it be pinned on the current administration alone. The warming toward China began around 2023, the tail end of the Biden administration, when Americans’ faith in their own government was already eroding. Biden's decision to seek reelection robbed voters of a Democratic primary, exacerbating feelings of alienation from a political system that was failing them. These frustrations have persisted into the current administration. With President Trump's approval rating at historic lows, disillusionment has only worsened. But dissatisfaction with transient political circumstances should not prevent Americans from celebrating and identifying with their country. Turning to Chinese culture and adopting it as a kind of substitute identity is not protest. It is surrender to our enemy.

We must remember that what surfaces on our social media feeds is a curated sliver of a country that censors its own people on a massive scale. Do not forget the mass censorship of the Hong Kong protests in 2019. China censored over 10,000 WeChat accounts, the main communication app for Hong Kongers, and utilized artificial intelligence to automatically block imagery of protest videos and keywords such as “Hong Kong extradition.” In addition, mandatory apps like Xuexi Qiangguo track an estimated 1 billion users' reading behavior for social credit scores and penalize disloyalty with travel and job bans. 

Beyond surveillance, the persecution of over 1 million ethnically Uyghur detainees in 380+ self-proclaimed reeducation camps in the province of Xinjiang is one of the most egregious human rights abuses of our time. These camps have been accused of using forced labor and engaging in sterilization practices. Americans take media freedom for granted, seduced by the aesthetic highlights of a political system that stands in direct contradiction to our Constitution and insults the very liberties and democratic values America was built upon. 

As a Taiwanese-American, I have seen the best of what the United States can offer: economic opportunity, humanitarian outreach in the face of natural disaster, and true freedom. Yet proximity to these gifts can dull our appreciation for them. It is easy to take these positives for granted, blinding us to the strengths that define our democracy. 

Dissension with those in power is an American constant. However, we cannot allow disagreements among ourselves to make us lose track of our real adversaries. Communist China is an authoritarian state that has spent decades carefully polishing its image abroad, precisely because it cannot afford for you to see what it actually is. You are not in a Chinese time of your life: we are free and they are not.