About Chinamaxxing

Chinamaxxing explains everyday habits in China to readers who do not live there. Not what the habits are — most visitors can already see those — but where each one came from, and roughly when.

What this site is

Habits that get described outside China as ancient custom are given a date here. A piece starts with something ordinary — hot water arriving before you order it, a jacket that stays on in summer, a gift that has to be refused twice — and traces it back to the policy, product, or price that put it there.

The unit of evidence is a year and a cause that can be checked, rather than an impression.

How it is written

Drafting happens in Chinese. The piece then moves into English, and finishes with a native-speaker edit for tone. Dates and names are checked against published sources and written into the sentence where they belong, not parked in an appendix.

What it will not do

It will not say a habit is good for you; nothing here is medical advice. It will not present a custom as a curiosity, and it will not call something ancient without evidence that it is. It will not argue with other countries, and it will not guess at anyone’s motives.

Who it is for

Anyone who has noticed one of these habits and wondered how it started: a visitor, a student, a partner’s family at dinner. No prior knowledge of China is assumed, and no prior opinion is required.