Britain and the US, calm down. The gen Z Chinamaxxers will do you no harm | Coco Khan

Some on the right portray this TikTok phenomenon as tantamount to treason. That says more about them than the fans of Chinese culture

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s it’s Chinese lunar new year, it would not be surprising if you’ve found yourself scrolling through some China-inspired content. But before you click the heart on a TikTok of paper lanterns or mouthwatering noodles, think twice. As an unsuspecting citizen, you may well be participating in a geopolitical battle where western civilisation itself is on the line.

This isn’t the plot of a mediocre action thriller on Amazon Prime – this is “Chinamaxxing”, an internet trend that has got some commentators worrying that gen Z are about to topple the west from the inside.

If the word Chinamaxxing looks strangely familiar, it’s because it uses the internet’s suffix du jour, “maxxing”, which roughly translates as “drastic pursuit” of something. Examples include looksmaxxing (improving your looks to an extreme); cloutmaxxing (chasing online influence); and I kid you not, monkmaxxing (extreme self-discipline and isolation).