[Current Trends] What Chinamaxxing Looks Like in Shanghai's Old Town

At Shanghai's Yuyuan Garden Malls, a group of young international participants were tapping their bodies with mugwort-filled massage hammers. Finn, from the Netherlands, had seen older people doing something similar in local parks.

"Why are they hitting themselves?" he recalled, wondering.

He was trying it himself on Saturday. Afterward, he said he felt more relaxed and wanted to keep practicing it. He was also thinking of his mother, who spends long periods sitting at work.

The exercise opened a day of TCM (traditonal Chinese medicine) consultations, herbal crafts, costume fittings and an evening procession through the historical malls in Shanghai's old town.

Organized for invited international guests and content creators as part of the 2026 Grand Yuyuan Music & Heritage Festival, the route connected a pharmacy, a styling business and the surrounding streets.

Habits beyond the hashtag

Chinamaxxing, the online term for enthusiastically adopting habits associated with Chinese life, covers activities that require little more than a kettle or a pair of slippers, as well as travel and traditional wellness experiences.

Many foreign visitors have joined tai chi at Yuyuan's central square and exercised alongside residents in Beijing's Temple of Heaven park. On social media, the interest extends to drinking hot water, trying traditional exercises and watching Chinese television dramas.

At Yuyuan, the exercise was pai ba xu. The eight sites in its name are four pairs of hollows: the inner elbows, armpits, groin creases and backs of the knees.

In TCM, patting them is intended to encourage the flow of qi, or vital energy, and blood. Such gentle patting can ease discomfort and maintain joint mobility.

Brazilian participant Thaís Teixeira Mendes said the session helped her relax and she planned to take her hammer home to practice.

Aaron, a Canadian teacher, already knew the tool from his wife's aunts and uncles, although he had never tried it himself.

After about 20 years of living in China, Aaron had switched from cold water to hot and started wearing slippers at home. He posted a video about Chinamaxxing about six months ago, which went viral on the social media site Xiaohongshu, or Red Note.

The hammer was a new addition. Aaron, who exercises regularly and often has sore muscles, said he felt more relaxed after using it. He planned to demonstrate it during his livestreams.

A pharmacy on the itinerary

During the National Day holiday in early October, foreign visitors bought sachets at Yuyuan and took tea at its Mid-lake Pavilion teahouse. City night tours and visits to neighborhood shops offered other ways to explore beyond the main sightseeing stops.

Shanghai recorded about 4.15 million tourist visits by foreign nationals in the first half of 2026, up 29.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the city's statistics bureau.

TCM demonstrations have also appeared at the point of arrival. An activity at Pudong airport's Terminal 2 international visitor service center combined ba duan jin, an eight-movement exercise, with sachet-making and introductions to Shanghai's TCM traditions.

In Hangzhou, neighboring Zhejiang Province, a Fanghuichuntang pharmacy offered Chinese-English audio guides and payment options for international visitors.

At Tonghanchuntang in Yuyuan, Finn sat down for a consultation. Speaking Chinese, he described pain behind his eyes that had troubled him since he was five or six. He said hospital visits in the Netherlands and China had not given him an explanation.

The practitioner examined his pulse and suggested, in TCM terms, a connection with the liver and late nights.

"He told me not to stay up so late, which I do a lot," Finn said afterward.

The practitioner also recommended ingredients including chenpi, dried tangerine peel. When the group moved on to making sachets, Finn repeatedly asked for it. He understood from the consultation that it would help his liver.

For the sachets, participants selected aromatic ingredients to put inside small fabric pouches.

Kate, from Russia, chose jasmine, lemongrass and clove for a pink one that matched her clothes. She thought she might keep it in her wardrobe and proposed returning with friends to compare their blends.

Dressing for the evening

Clothing offers another route from a social-media image to an activity visitors can arrange locally.

At a studio at Yuyuan offering photographs in hanfu, traditional Han Chinese dress, customers found their way through social media, travel agents and guides.

Staff learned English, Japanese and Korean to help with the process, from selecting clothes to makeup and photographs.

The foreign visitors changed into traditional-style Chinese outfits. Aksara Regmi chose pink. It was her fifth costume experience, but her first in her favorite color.

The Nepalese medical student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University had been watching Empresses in the Palace and Scarlet Heart since childhood, hoping to wear the clothes she saw on screen.

Her parents had also studied in China as international students. As a child, she recommended Chinese dramas to friends. Now she takes visitors around Shanghai and makes her own videos about Chinese culture.

Dressing up for a walk through Shanghai has a history of its own. Zou yueliang, or walking the moon, is associated with Mid-Autumn night outings. Historical accounts of Shanghai describe women dressing up to visit friends and relatives or stroll through gardens late into the night.

The Yuyuan procession was a contemporary version of that custom. By evening, the group was walking from Golden Square along Ninghui Road to Central Square, greeting visitors and posing for photographs.

Muhammad Arslan, a Pakistani doctoral student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, paired his Chinese-style outfit with a traditional hat from his own country. A parasol completed the look.

"I hope it looks beautiful on me," he said.