THE LABUBU EFFECT

China has traditionally been seen as a rather distant and hard-to-read country: one that sparked curiosity because so little was widely understood about what was happening there, and one that attracted business interest for its ability to manufacture almost anything, almost immediately, at extremely low prices. But it was not necessarily seen as a country that generated warmth or sympathy towards its society.

But something is shifting on TikTok. A new cultural wave is emerging — one that some are starting to call “Chinamaxxing”, or the Labubu effect.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is happening on TikTok: accounts and posts are starting to appear from users who say they want to “feel Chinese”. China is becoming cool for reasons that go beyond its role as the world’s factory.

On top of this, a growing number of influencers are starting to travel to China and create content from the ground, showing the rest of us what Chinese society is actually like.

The Chinese government also seems to be entering a more open phase, softening its traditionally heavy-handed approach — at least from the outside looking in. Visas are becoming easier to obtain, street-level controls appear to be less visible, and there seems to be more room to interact with local society.

But this shift in perception — one the Chinese government is actively working to shape — has an accelerator thousands of miles away: the political and social situation in the United States. In recent months, the way the country that once embodied aspiration and possibility is being governed has started to push some of that cultural affection towards the Asian giant.

Even within the United States, public opinion appears to be shifting. According to a recent study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, more than 50% of young Americans do not see China becoming the world’s leading power ahead of the United States as a threat. In other words, MAGA does not seem to be fully landing with younger generations.

Governments are not blind to this. If the United States is closing its doors, then others will need to build closer ties with another major power. As a result, the procession of world leaders travelling to Beijing seems never-ending.

That said, social change is never easy. It takes time, and when it remains half-finished it often ends up as little more than a passing trend. In this case, however, it is worth acknowledging that China is evolving at remarkable speed: from being seen simply as the world’s factory, a low-cost copycat economy with a questionable human rights record, towards a country that innovates, invests heavily in technology, is gradually opening up and, above all, has enormous consumer potential.

The question is: if the MAGA effect fails to fully take root in the country that once embodied aspiration, and the United States returns to more moderate, more open and, above all, less erratic leadership, will things go back to normal?

In a way, China seems to be entering its prime, while the United States is going through a deeply uncomfortable “cringe” moment.

Image: Created with AI — Artlist.io, under licence.