‘I did go through a very Chinese time of my life. It was unpleasant’: Woman Calls Out The Aestheticization Of Chinese Culture On Social Media
Everyone on social media now claims that they’re in a “very Chinese time” of their lives, but that wasn’t the case a few years ago. A TikTok user points out the hypocrisy in the sudden appropriation of Chinese aesthetics, now that it has become trendy in the West.
Blurrytokki from TikTok recalls her experience of being Chinese less than five years ago. She alleges that she’s been accused of “eating dogs, cats, and bats”—a common stereotype that intends to portray Chinese people as unclean. Chinese people, she claims, are called unsanitary because of their food and cultural practices.
“I did go through a very Chinese time of my life. It was extremely unpleasant,” Blurrytokki said. This is a feeling shared by many people with Chinese heritage before their cultural products became palatable to Western audiences.
Decades later, Chinese people are still shamed and mocked for their cultural practices and their food. They’re blamed for being carriers of disease—take it from me. A cab driver told me to get out of his car. He accused Chinese people of “spreading” COVID-19 sometime in 2020, never mind that my family migrated from China four generations ago.
Being ‘celebrated’ doesn’t guarantee respect
Traditional herbal teas, dumplings, Tang jackets, and taking vacations in Chongqing are trending all at once on Instagram. People who aren’t East Asian have recently hopped on celebrating Lunar New Year—but when the trend fades, will the respect for Chinese culture be shrugged off like clothes past their season?
Chinese culture has trended in the West long before the year 2025. Who could forget Y2K orientalism in the late 90s and 2000s, when famous celebrities featured in events and magazine covers wearing qipaos and other Chinese-inspired tops? I’m sure everyone who grew up watching Spider-Man has a memory of Kirsten Dunst wearing a red cheongsam in the movies. The thrift stores surely remember as Y2K makes a resurgence, but the reverence for culture stops there.
As Blurrytokki claims, other non-European cultural products are often praised only when Westerners popularize them. When they fall off the trend, it’s just another thing for the sale rack.
Culture isn’t just about aesthetics
Unlike those who hop on trends, people who have Chinese heritage can’t escape their roots. It isn’t something I can shrug off when it becomes unappealing to the Western gaze.
People of different ethnic backgrounds can and should be able to appreciate other cultures—but before they eat our food and wear our clothes, they should see the people behind the culture without viewing them as backward oddities.
Before they feel like they’re in a “very Chinese” time of their lives, I hope they look past the aesthetics and see the people who comprise the culture as human beings, not just peddlers of trends that come and go.
Happy Year of the Fire Horse.
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