Kill line vs Chinamaxxing: a window on US–China perceptions

Online, young people in the US are embracing “Chinamaxxing” — small habits like drinking hot water and playing mahjong, summed up as “You’ve met me at a very Chinese time in my life”. At the same time on Chinese platforms a separate trend, the “kill line”, casts American life as poised on the brink of catastrophe.

State accounts have amplified that view, sometimes misattributing footage — a clip presented as an American man who earned $450,000 was actually from London. The kill line picked up pace late in 2025 after a Chinese student in Seattle streamed five hours on BiliBili about poverty he encountered; the video has more than 3m views.

Hashtags about the US “kill line” have been viewed over 600m times on Weibo, and the sighting of former Nickelodeon actor Tylor Chase homeless in California has been widely shared.

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