A graphic novel by Melissa Chan and Badiucao imagines China and the US at war in 2035. They hope to remind young people that ‘authoritarianism everywhere is bad’
Drinking Tsingtao beers, eating congee, walking with hands behind their backs: for many young people in western countries, “Chinamaxxing” has become all the rage. Some content creators have even gone beyond the jokes about being in “a very Chinese time in my life” and have followed this passion to the Middle Kingdom: making TikToks in Chongqing’s multi-layered metropolis, bathing in Chengdu’s 24-hour spas, or backflipping on the Great Wall of China.
This irreverent, mostly ironic trend is jarring for some, but Chinese-Australian artist Badiucao and Chinese-American journalist Melissa Chan don’t want to lecture the so-called Chinamaxxers.
