00:00yes the most popular traditional chinese medicine inspired trends include drinking warm water to
00:06help with digestion practicing tai chi and eating dishes like congee china maxing went viral after
00:15chinese american content creator cherry jew put out a series on tiktok showing people how to become
00:22a chinese baddie since you're a chinese buddy you're drinking your hot water right a lot of
00:29you guys have been asking me oh can i add lemon can i add tea like what's the situation can
00:33i only
00:34drink hot water absolutely while in this post she explains about apples being boiled for a tea
00:41that's meant to help with gut health now us broadcasters have been looking at why the trend
00:46is appealing in particular to gen z americans some of them are even going through a daily checklist
00:54girl pick up the phone because we're about to become a chinese daddy i wrote down a list of the
00:59things that we are doing to be a chinese daddy okay so first we are going to drink hot water
01:03every day first thing in the morning the girlies say it helps with bloating it helps your skin you
01:08can put lemon or honey in the water if you want to or you could just be plain hot water
01:13um one girl on
01:14here said and it's not just about food and drink this woman here discovered gua sha through china maxing
01:21and she says her skin has never looked better while this man here says tai chi stretches have
01:28really helped with his morning routine and there are plenty of viral recipes for tcm teas to help with
01:35glow ups but there are warnings too this this practitioner for example is pleased that more people
01:41are learning about tcm but says it's a complex medicine system which requires years of training
01:47and that people must be cautious about what they see online and there are questions about whether the
01:52trend is cultural appreciation or cultural appropriation but this tiktok user who has chinese
01:59heritage says she's pleased that westerners are finally catching on to chinese traditions and embracing
02:04her culture so why is china maxing so appeal well experts say one reason is a desire for balance away
02:12from the hustle culture that countries like the united states are promoted many people also now see
02:18identity as something global rather than national they're open to non-western ideas and have a
02:24curiosity about other cultures china maxing is a good example of the evolving image that many young
02:30people have of china and i spoke to dr vivian low professor of chinese history at university college london
02:38i think they're really engaging with uh health practices that give them a little bit of autonomy
02:43um in the sense that you know um when you're thinking about diet for example in the uk uh you
02:51just get
02:52five five five five five a day you know five vegetables or five fruits a day and not much about
02:57how to cook
02:58it and how to prepare it um and exactly what to eat to work on your own physiology so it
03:05gives you a
03:05bit of sense of sort of individuality and um and you know some some power in your own self-care
03:11i think
03:12that's what people are looking for um what is a shame really is that they're universe they tend to be
03:18universal recommendations and the important thing about chinese medicine is that it can tailor a diet or a medical
03:26set of practices to your situation individually and that's missed really do you think these are kind of too much
03:34of a
03:34modern reinterpretation or simplification when it comes to chinese medicine well it's not that chinese
03:42medicine can't be simplified there were always um you know universal recommendations with certain
03:47foodstuffs or acupuncture points for uh certain effects but the the great virtue of chinese medicine
03:54is that in the hands of a good practitioner they will be able to look at everything about your health
04:00and tailored prescription you know a dietary uh regimen to to to you personally and that's of course
04:06missed online and the other thing is that chinese medicine has always been about community
04:11uh it's about you and your practitioner but also your mom your dad people all around you will have
04:17recommendations for you so it's about sharing now you do share online but it's a you know being online and
04:24looking at those um recommendations and those those very short videos it is actually a lonely experience
04:31in the end what is it about traditional chinese medicine that works so well on social media is it
04:37the visuals or is it the self-care element i think food is a great resource for social media because
04:43it's
04:44it is so visual um and and even the treatments like well acupuncture not so because the the needles are
04:50so
04:50small but guasha and um those images of the body that you get with it um the the channels etc
04:57it's it's
04:58it's visually wonderful uh and can be terribly colorful so um the words also that are being used like sharing
05:05liking the emojis they're they're all a natural response to uh recipes and remedies um it's not only young
05:12people actually in uh well i had i had a a colleague who was working in shanghai communities with elderly
05:19people and they spend all the time on social media making prescriptions for each other so it it it
05:24works in the elderly community on social media there's a huge following for this this china maxing
05:30this interest in traditional chinese medicine in america why do you think that is well for one it's got
05:37a massive chinese community and it has done for for for a couple of centuries so um there are the
05:43resources
05:44there uh and i think second and third generation chinese they are particularly interested in um their
05:50heritage and um they find that particularly through food it's the easiest way um and health practices i
05:57which i think just goes along with that
05:58you
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