Seeing is believing

So, what's driving this transformation? For many, it begins with something as simple as scrolling through their phones.

Mary, a 52-year-old from Colorado, joined social media platform RedNote, or Xiaohongshu, in January, as US TikTok users sought alternatives amid the platform's uncertain future. What began as curiosity soon altered her preconceptions about the nation.

"What surprised me the most is all the stereotypes and misconceptions that I grew up with are gone," she said in a video posted on Red-Note. "Just real people living their real lives … Somehow, sharing my life on RedNote has become the most joyful and meaningful thing that I have ever done."

Mary's experience isn't an isolated one.

Viona Francissca, a 23-year-old Indonesian student at Shanghai International Studies University, has shared her travel experiences in China on social media platforms like Instagram since 2023.

"China is more advanced than I thought, and more futuristic compared to what social media portrays or what we knew before," she told China Daily. "China is a very safe country and very efficient. Everything works very fast here."

She said she didn't know beforehand how different the cities were. "Shanghai to Suzhou is only a one-hour train ride, but the lifestyle, buildings, and environment are very different compared to Shanghai. This makes me interested in traveling to more cities in China," she said.

Matthew Michaels, a 42-year-old accountant from Los Angeles, California, first visited China in 2003, when negative narratives about China were prevalent. "I wasn't sure what to expect," he said, "but my worries were gone within a few minutes of arriving."

After that, he visited China almost yearly until the pandemic curtailed travel. On China's rapid development, he said, "Every year when I came back to China, it was like a decade had passed."

Like many other Americans, Michaels joined the RedNote in January.

"It has been a great experience being able to talk directly with Chinese people, especially with the translation feature, about various topics from economics and geopolitics to video games. It has also been fun watching my own people discover what China is actually like and then spreading the word on other platforms," he said.

He believes authentic content has played a big role in the transformation: "One of the most impactful things to influence people's opinions on China has been the increased visibility into everyday life there. Thanks to livestreams, social media platforms like TikTok, and video content shared by locals and foreigners, people around the world can now see what life in China actually looks like," he said.

"Joining someone in China as they walk through the park or shop at the grocery store feels more impactful than even the most high-budget cultural exports like movies and video games," he added.

Michaels said the recent visit of iShowSpeed, US content creator Darren Jason Watkins Jr who is known for his high-energy videos, was the most high-profile example of this.

In March, the YouTube star livestreamed his two-week China tour, showing views ranging from Shanghai's neon skyline to Shaolin Temple's martial arts legacy to millions of viewers. His videos sparked re-evaluation of the country's image.

The top-rated comment on his first China vlog simply stated: "Decades of anti-China propaganda destroyed by a 20-year-old streamer."