Can Chinese FINALLY Be Proud in 2026?

It's 2026. It's super weird because China feels like it's finally cool. Japan's been cool since the early 90s. Korea's been cool for about 15 years now. And now China got thrown in there and it's like this small meme tribe that's supporting it, but it's mighty because it's tracking on my algo. Maybe it's tracking on your algo, too. And it's crazy to see it bounce from like this all-time low of like over 19 to now where it's China maxing where some of it doesn't honestly fully even make sense because growing up, guys, you know, I'm not just talking about it from a fun bros. We've been repping, you know, the pros and cons of being ABC for the past 15 years, but also I'm like saying like just in general, I saw so many people go so many different ways growing up because being Chinese was very polarizing. Being Chinese is the most polarizing of being any Asian, to be honest. Like in the sense of like some people really like it, some people really hate it. Uh it's not like all just like like being Japanese and Korean and it's not just all like being hated. I don't know what group you would sit put in that. But just being Chinese is just a lot of ups and downs, okay? So for example, some people just rejected their Asian side completely growing up, right? Like some people just like were like, "Nah, I'm not with this, you know." Um some people are going to say, "You know what I mean? Like you just go with the white culture just I try to affiliate yourself with greener pastures." Um some people would kind of lean into another Asian culture that was more accepted or cooler. Uh whether we're talking about Japanese or Korean, it seems like a more premium like sort of car upgrade to this Confucian fundamental basic package that Chinese have. Other people would go Southeast Asia vibes, more chill, more urban, more or less Confucian, more loose, higher EQ sociality, less of that like I can't talk to girls, I'm a Chinese computer nerd type vibe. Um other people went pan-Asian AAPI activisty. You know, you try to bond people through boba and taking off your shoes and rice and chopsticks and Buddhism or you know, these things that are real but it's like I don't know like I guess I would say that AAPI pan-Asianism like never really fully held up to being battle-tested. It's good for some things, but it's not good for other things. Other people triple down on Chinese culture. Some people would be like, "Yo, MMA is better, you know, what's it called? Wing Chun is better than MMA." Which I don't even agree with that all, but I'm saying that it's people trying to be overly proud when they feel attacked, right? Or they would say like, "American music is degenerate. I only listen to Jay Chou." I'll tell you this, American music is degenerate for sure. America has aspects to it that are completely degenerate. I don't care what anybody says. Look at the shooting rates, look at the crime rates, look at the whatever whatever ratchetness rates. But I'm saying that I'm still listening to Drake and Kanye soul samples at the DJ night or whatever, you know what I mean? Like, I still like Ka Boo Ya Ka you know, but I I'm just not going to let only listen to old Jay Chou when I grew up in America. That's crazy, right? Um so, the real question is this, guys. Here's my seven points. Can Chinese Americans finally be proud to be Chinese again in 2026? And what even validates their ability to do so or not? Point number one, guys. The vibe shift is real and it's growing. Okay, so America didn't just wake up one day and decide that it loves China, right? Hell no. Like, it's a small plugged-in internet tribe. They listen to Hasan They see the Chongqing Sky Train. They're doing the photo. You know what I mean? They're like, "Dude, China looks sick." And then there's some 63-year-old in Ohio still hoping for population collapse in 30 years in China and still hoping for you know, 10 more Evergrandes to happen because you know, at the end of the day the Sino civilization is an existential threat to the Anglo Empire's reign at the top, you know? Um but here's the truth. In 20 years the Chongqing loving Hasan listener will still manage money. So, it's a it's the seedling of change, right? I'm not saying it's changed. I tend not to overrate like social media things as like change change, but like it's the seedling of change. Point number two, just like both Americas are real, you know, Hasan America and then like what do you must say? I don't know, Nick Fuentes or whoever else America. I don't know I don't even know if those are good examples, but like both Chinas are real. Okay? Like for example, the China maxing crowd, they might overcorrect too and be like thinking that the whole China is like non Shenzhen, which is the super techy new part with all the pompey and the robot police and stuff like that. Those are real things by the way, too. But, you know, smokestack China still exists. Factory like old school factory China still exists. There's still poverty. I will say this though, within the poverty there's way less gangs, way less violence, way less drugs. Um but then on the flip side you can say no more bets, right? Like that movie no more bets. And a lot of those Hebei or whatever gangsters have moved into Laos and Myanmar and that's a whole scam farm thing, but that's all another video. At the same time though, like I said, the robot LED palm scanning power bank on every single corner from Meituan, you know, steampunk old quarters cuz they're mixed with like hyper new technology, whatever. Like it it's all real, but it exists at the same time. So, it's not that the old China is fake like some China maxers say, but it's just an increasingly smaller slice of the pie chart distribution, right? Point number three, let's be honest, a lot of this China maxing and and it'll be interesting to see how Chinese Americans think about it or Chinese Canadians is because a lot of Americans or Canadians are pissed at America. So, I think Americans are pissed at America in a way of like why can't we get our ish together? And the Canadians actually are like legitimately pissed at America. But, I would say that like you know, people on the left are mad at America for a set of reasons. People on the right are mad at America for an entirely different set of reasons. And anybody reasonable or people in the middle, or just casual observers are just like, "What is going on? Like, why who's in the captain's chair right now? How come you guys can't run anything, or like, make any politically like popular decisions?" You know, um I do think that it has to do with fragmentation on a demographic level, too, to some extent, but honestly, a lot of it is just bad leadership, too, because there is some policies like just like better food industrial complex that like I don't think anybody would fight against that unless you work in big food that we can't figure out out either. So, it's like I think when a kid sees you know, the high-speed rails, I don't think that they're like saying, "Oh, I want 996. I don't want to, you know, strict parentizing of everything." You know, like, if you guys really understand how China became successful, a lot of people are going to say it was like stolen IP, or this, or that. Ultimately, the truth is, the reason why China was successful is cuz they strict parent everything. They strict parent, you know, people's on the street, on the sidewalk behaviors. They strict parent KPIs. their own politicians. You know, they're just the more strict they run a way, way more strict system. Like, literally, it's as easy as you had knew somebody at school with strict parents, you knew somebody with medium parents, and you knew somebody with loose parents. Somehow, America is becoming a loose parent, and China always been a strict parent, but it just seems like their strict parenting for a certain amount of time didn't work, and now it's really working. It's really effective. It's really productive. It's really prolific. Whatever you want to say. So, anyway, what I'm saying is China becomes a mirror for things that America cannot get done. Like, because people are looking at that SF to LA pipeline, and how there's so many wasted billions, no usability, no efficiency in the government spend, probably people siphoning off funds for who knows what type of projects that people would be politically unpopular amongst at least half the population. But, listen, it's just it's just something that's underneath the meme shift, you know, like, even when people romanticize China, there's a meme, there's deeper things underneath it anymore. People just do not assume, including Americans, that America has the most advanced modern version of everything anymore. And it's way bigger than people drinking hot water. I mean, dude, I'm not I don't think Paris is like that advanced in some ways, but at least they got carbonated water fountains. That's fire. Anyway, point number four. On top of people like Americans hating the way America is going and being mad at the leadership, China actually earned it. Guys, none of this would be possible if China didn't actually improve. Like take BYD, guys. You ever seen the first BYD car that ever came out? You ever seen in 2025, 2026 the YangWang U9 that I test drove for this episode of Global Next Show? Run that clip. Listen, guys, not only is that the fastest car in the world ever, literally can go over 500 km/h, it's also not that badly priced. It's cheaper than a Bugatti. So, at the end of the day, it is not only the fastest car in the world, so arguably in terms of performance, the best car ever made, but is also the best car per dollar ever made in terms of raw performance. If we're talking about literally a F1 car that got, you know, retailed out for the consumer market. And DJI dude, I'm telling you, this improvement arc that uh BYD is on, it's not stopping. This improvement arc that DJI on, DJI is on that I'm filming this right now, it's not stopping. Huawei, Xiaomi, CATL, the battery company, Deep C Unitree, I could go on and on. Listen, 20 years ago, everybody was like, you know what, China just makes artish. We make, you know, like we make cool stuff in America. China just makes it, you know, they'll never learn. You know what I mean? Like Elon even kind of like laughed at BYD. And they'll never learn. They'll just be like stay Santa's the elves. We're Santa. We're the designers. We're the architects. We're like, you know, the Galileo. We are like the Renaissance. We're like Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and they thought that China was never going to catch up. Now China's making stuff where their EVs are like 10 years ahead of the US EVs. Honestly, we might be more like I'm sure in 10 years you will be able to get a refrigerator in your American EV, but it'll be like BMW or whatever company will make you pay a subscription for it, you know, like Dude, think about it, bro. Steph Curry just signed with Li-Ning. The Way of Wade 12 is arguably the best Way of Wade 10 or Way of Wade 12 is arguably the two best basketball shoes ever made. Al- of to be fair, along with the Kobe 6, but guess what? Even the Kobe 6 is made in China. The Grinches are made in China. Same with the Way of Wade 12. Same with the Way of Wade 10. And you know, just to take it out of tech for a second. Point number five, guys. Here's the giant gorilla in the room that we all avoided. Okay. So, here's the part. This is back to like more of a little bit more existential stuff for ABCs. This is where the part about being Chinese-American gets real because listen, >> [music] >> for 20 years everybody handled the China question way differently. Some people picked America hard, some people picked China hard, but listen, other people put their head in the sand, they leaned into the safe version of AAPI, which I love, by the way, guys, but I'm telling you boba is not a culture, Din Tai Fung is not a personality. ABGs and ABBs, it's not a personality. You know, saying no mad like, you know, it's hilarious. Saying any of these things and you know, that I I know that's Vietnamese or saying like deal lay low mo you know, like watching old Hong Kong movies or listening to Jackie Cheung or none of this Tony Leung movies or none of this um you know, it is I'm not speaking about in a very broad Asian-American sense, you know, saying aiya or aigo if you're Korean or whatever it is, like saying senpai OP, you know, more stuff in the anime world like or Japan world. Listen, none of this is a real culture. That is why we're still making ABG and ABG ABB Kevin Win, Jennifer Tran memes for like 20, 30 years, guys. It's just not a real culture. Like Asia is a culture. Do you know what I mean? Like and I I happen to know everything about like just a ton of Asian cultures like a lot more than the average person does or like maybe I might be in the top I'm not going to lie, I might be in the top 99 percentile in terms of knowing stuff, but basically what I'm saying is nobody wanted to talk about China. Because China is the most ancient country on Earth. And not only that, it is the a civilization, the Sino civilization is re-emerging as the main rival to the Anglo-American order that's run the world for centuries, okay? So, listen, it's like that is the actual identity mind F, okay? I'm American, I'm Chinese, and I keep getting told that these two things are on opposite teams, okay? But I can hold that tension. A lot of people can't. That's why back to the initial thing that I said in the intro, so many people just scrambled and went so many different ways because they just want to put their head in the sand or they just want to fit in and find some comfort. It's human, I get it, it's logical. I don't blame anybody, but I'm just saying the time is now to you have the ability or the privilege to not be like a scrambling prey in the cultural wars of America. I'm not saying you got to be a predator. You know what I mean? I I do think there is that opportunity to to be a shark, but at least you just don't got to be a scared little mouse anymore, you know? And like, you know, us man, we've been going to Beijing for so long. You know, I went to China 20 years ago. I saw it change a lot. And you know, uh COVID was a low point, you know, decoupling. People want to do this and do that and people want to wipe China out of the global ecosystem. Um and like people might be like, "Oh, you're so you're just saying that because you're Chinese." No, I'm not I'm keeping it real. You can't wipe it out of the global ecosystem because it almost at this point is the maker of everything for everybody. Like literally everything important in the world's has to go through China at this point in 2026. And, you know, calling China evil or thinking that it's evil when it's not, I'm not saying it's perfect, I'm not saying there's not pros and cons, but that's just wrong because everything got to flow through it now cuz it's literally the world's factory and not just for low-end stuff, for mid-end and high-end stuff now, too. And, so yeah, in 2026, I have to say yeah, maybe I do feel a little bit vindicated, you know? Not because I changed, but because, you know, the Overton window changed. Point number six, guys. That that rant being aside, is that both countries can win, okay? This part is not complicated. America can win, China can win. America's my country, but I am Chinese. Listen, I reject the zero-sum premise. I truly do. I always did for 15 years and every day I feel more vindicated or validated that that is true. You know, I will say this, less people from the American side think it's possible than the China side cuz the China side has been making it work, right? Like we have our China has been Santa's elves to like white companies for 20, 30, 40, 50 years now already, right? But now it's changing because they have learned a lot. It's a really smart, hardworking country. They want to build their own products and ship them over. You know what I mean? Like they don't want to just manufacture Like they're building phones that are arguably, outside of iMessage, better than iPhones, right? So, basically what I'm saying is we can compete like the two countries can compete without like hoping the worst for each other. And I just think that not everybody, but more people in China have that understanding than people do in the American Anglo world, to be honest. For sure, right? Just because I get it. It's the in-the-incumbent. And maybe there's also some cultural philosophies, you know, Buddhism versus like Abrahamic dominance, you know, at play here, but I don't want to get into that. Point number seven, guys. Here's my last thing and I know I was, you know, getting into a lot of deep stuff. All real though, I stand by everything I said. Point number seven, you're either going to be concrete, you're going to be bamboo, or you're going to be New Tie. New tie is actually a word called servant and it was actually usually originally designed for people who were in the Qing Dynasty, Han people who like actually bought into like Manchurian like Manchu run like subjugation and it was like actually servility as survival. So it's a survival tactic but it's just not very cool because it's very docile and very beta. It's almost like self-eunuchizing. But anyway, I do think that Chinese culture not everybody but like there is a tendency to be overly submissive to power and sometimes like it over indexes on servility as survival especially the previous generations or especially you know what I mean it's different but like keep your head down, don't challenge the boss, protect the family, survive. Compare that to like a a Russian or like Guamanian Chamorro warrior, Samoan warrior like I would rather die than kneel or death before dishonor. You know I had some Guamanian friends shout out to the Nadas growing up. They used to always say death before dishonor. I'm not saying that we should think like that either. I'm just saying that like there's just certain cultures that over index on one thinking or another for sure it's different. Um but yeah different cultures glorify different survival strategies and that's why bamboo is a really interesting metaphor because some people are like bamboo they like sway with the wind but they never break right? Other people are literally just leaves in the wind they literally go wherever the wind is or you know like we said you hop ship to another ship the second your ship starts to shing sink or you see greener pastures elsewhere. Um you know there's other people who are like concrete. You know concrete is you know you just trying to stay concrete in the wind. You know you you're unmoved. You know what I mean like a pillar and other people just drink boba and matcha and just stayed out of it entirely right? You know um but listen like I said the wind is not blowing in one direction anymore. You know some of it is still against China or the Chinese identity whatever that means to you like we said the Singapore account. You know it's complicated Yes and no, right? Um but it's like you know, some winds are neutral, some are now blowing against your back, pushing you forward. So, Chinese Americans who spent years saying that like China matters, you know, I'm not embarrassed to be Chinese. We don't look so crazy anymore, right? Like I always thought it was something that I never wanted to be ashamed of. That's why we did the whole 626 song. And you did Kalima Road. And you know, people did go against us. You know, I'm not going to lie. Like I'm not going to tell say who, but other people definitely went against us. You know, and everybody can be proud when everybody's clapping, okay? Everybody is easy to root for your own team when your own team is winning. But, you know, were you still proud when it cost you something? Like I said, I'm not judging anybody, but I'm just I'm just saying what I'm saying. Listen. So, if you're one of those kids China maxing right now, welcome. I hope you guys drink hot water. You do some of the ancient stuff. You do some of the futuristic robotic stuff, stuff with grannies in the park, do tai chi, smoke while you're squatting, you know, the double lucky cigarettes. Go see it for yourself. This moment is for you. But for us, being Chinese was never meant to be a phase. It is a really complicated thing. It is a ton thing that comes with a ton of pros and cons, to be honest. But it is just becoming something that is so increasingly relevant in the world. I mean, I think it always was, but now it's like people actually just agree on it now. So, anyway, guys, follow the Global Next Show. We're going to be dropping crazy stuff about China that is We're going to give you some China maxing stuff. We're going to give you some China maxing 2.0 stuff that's way deeper than that, too. And of course, you know, I'm continuing to I'm in Southeast Asia right now, in Vietnam. Maybe I'll go to Cholon D5, which is Chinatown. It was a really important part of Saigon. Maybe I'll show you guys more of that. You know, too. Just Just to show you you get you can China max even when you're not in China. Anyway, guys, let me know what you guys think in the comment section below. Check out Global Next Show. I just came back from Shenzhen. I'm going to do more of these. Until next time, I'm out. Peace.