BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- This month, my cousin touched down in Shanghai after a decade in Vancouver. Her first moves weren't touristy; they were practical. She booked an MRI for back pain and a dental appointment. Within a single week, both were done -- tasks that, in Canada, might have taken a year.
Inside China, such everyday efficiency often goes unremarked; elsewhere, it can feel almost revelatory.
My cousin's offhand remark -- "in Shanghai, things are cheap" -- left me puzzled at first. The stories filling my feed all push the city's glossy, latte-sipping stereotypes. Yet, a local friend backed her up, saying even average earners can live a decent life in this global metropolis.
This is more true in inland cities like Chengdu, Changsha and Kunming -- places not known for high wages, where long queues outside restaurants are a nightly spectacle. Locals celebrate these towns for their unhurried, comfortable rhythms.
Ever since China streamlined its visa policies, "Becoming Chinese" has turned from a travel trend into a global meme. Foreign visitors who ride the bullet trains, sample street food, haggle at wet markets, or soak in Chinese bathhouses aren't flocking here seeking citizenship papers; they are chasing a feeling, a specific, tangible sense of ease.
It's worth reflecting on what fuels this romance.
It starts with the basics. China ranks third globally for the safety of walking alone at night, outperforming North America, according to the Gallup 2025 Global Safety Report. With a homicide rate of just 0.44 per 100,000 in 2024, gun violence and drug abuse -- plagues that regularly fill American headlines -- are virtually exotic here.
"It's such a safe country that I could go for a run at 3 a.m.," BBC correspondent Laura Bicker recently said. This lived experience was echoed by the travel vlogger Alex Cage, who left a laptop intentionally unattended in busy Shanghai squares and returned hours later to find it still sitting there. In the comments below his viral clip, global viewers shared similar stories, convinced that such a thing could never happen back home.
Admittedly, China remains a developing nation; its per-capita income as a whole hasn't cracked the "high-income" ceiling. But there is a distinct lack of precarity here.
In some travel videos, Western tourists, still reeling from post-COVID inflation at home, are seen browsing China's bustling markets, where abundance meets affordability, and filling their bags with fresh produce. Over the past five years, China's retail sales have amounted to roughly 80 percent of the United States in absolute terms, while representing 1.6 times the U.S. figure when adjusted for purchasing power, according to World Bank metrics.
For the Chinese people, a key source of security lies in an increasingly robust social floor. The country has lifted nearly 100 million people out of absolute poverty and built the world's largest education, social security and healthcare networks.
Though public expectations for high-quality medical care are not yet fully met, basic diagnostic needs like getting CT scanning and preliminary diagnoses are generally available without year-long waits or exorbitant bills. This efficiency has even sparked a recent surge in foreigners visiting China specifically for medical care.
As the International Labor Organization noted in a report regarding the country's new five-year roadmap, China emphasizes stronger social security as a key foundation for boosting consumption, reducing disparities, and establishing a multi‑tiered system that is fair and unified, secure and well‑regulated and sustainable.
Reflecting further on the origins of security, I feel that social and economic stability can't fully animate a society. Maslow's hierarchy also points to the importance of personal development. Indeed, China's appeal lies partly in the fact that it doesn't feel like a stagnant, played-out place.
Chinese people tend to possess a certain optimism about the future. For instance, many people here are readily embracing new technologies such as AI. A survey published in the International Journal of Psychology found that respondents in China hold firm to the belief in upward social mobility. Whether their personal history had been one of ascent or decline, all of them thought they could move up in the future.
This can-do spirit is partly fueled by the manufacturing powerhouse transitioning into a tech titan. China's emerging tech sectors are creating new job opportunities for young people, with some in their thirties already carving out rags-to-riches success stories. Although China's hyper-competitive high school system is still driving some parents to move abroad, the country is seeing an increasing influx of returnees who have studied overseas, as well as foreign professionals.
Its massive domestic market and comprehensive industrial base also equip the country with considerable capacity to withstand external shocks. A recent UNDP analysis of the knock-on effects of Middle Eastern turmoil revealed that the estimated effects on the Human Development Index of China remain limited in magnitude, ranging roughly 0.01-0.05 years, since economies such as China "benefit from more diversified production structures and stronger buffers." On Monday, global rating agency Moody's announced its decision to affirm China's A1 sovereign credit rating and raise its outlook to "stable."
The "Becoming Chinese" phenomenon is gaining momentum precisely because of these merits. It is a craving for the composure to enjoy today and the predictability of a better tomorrow. From within China, gazing at our bustling high-speed rails and safe streets, it might seem ordinary. But viewed from an increasingly uncertain world, it is a true luxury. ■
