China beyond the screen

China is being encountered in new ways, as young people connect global audiences with its everyday life, cultural heritage and emerging brands.

For most of the past decade, Tan Jinan's travel business focused on helping Chinese tourists travel abroad. Foreign visitors occasionally sought her help, but they were never her main clientele.

That has begun to change.

This year, the 34-year-old entrepreneur launched Inside China Journeys, a brand dedicated to customized inbound travel, after noticing growing interest among international travelers who wanted to experience China beyond its conventional historical landmarks.

Some come to Shenzhen, Guangdong province — which will host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November — eager to experience driverless vehicles, drone food deliveries and service robots. Others want to play mahjong in Sichuan parks, eat Chongqing hotpot or try tuina, a form of traditional Chinese medicine massage.

"In the past, many foreign visitors came primarily for the famous sights," Tan said. "Now they're curious about much more. They see China's technological development online and want to experience it firsthand, and they also want to know how ordinary Chinese people live."

Among her clients was a 22-year-old Dutch traveler fascinated by tea culture and traditional crafts. Tan's team arranged for him to learn how Chinese tea is made and appreciated, and to try his hand at making Ru-style porcelain in Beijing.

Tan said his family had worried before the trip that China might be backward or inconvenient, but his experiences changed their perception of the country.

For Tan, that is where travel can make a difference. "Travel can transform the China people know from a screen into a place they can experience and engage with," she said. "My job is not to tell foreign visitors what China is, but to give them the chance to discover it for themselves."

While Tan helps overseas travelers gain a closer understanding of China, Gu Xiaosi (pseudonym), a young writer and video creator, has devoted herself to introducing China's cultural heritage to audiences around the world.

She has traveled to more than 30 countries wearing hanfu, or traditional Chinese attire.

Her interest in hanfu began in 2008, when she was a high school student in Sydney, Australia. During the school's cultural day, students were asked to wear clothing representing their home countries. Chinese students wore modernized Chinese-style outfits bought in Chinatown, while Japanese and Korean students wore kimono and hanbok.

The experience made Gu wonder why she could not wear something that more clearly reflected China's clothing traditions.

"At the time, the internet was far less developed, and the hanfu community was still very small," she recalled. "I could hardly find any information about it while I was overseas, but the question stayed with me."

It was not until she graduated from university in Australia and returned to China in 2016 that she wore authentic hanfu for the first time. From there, her curiosity grew into a deeper fascination with traditional Chinese culture, leading to years of study and exploration.

She began writing about what she had learned, first producing guides to hanfu styling and makeup, and later writing books on traditional Chinese clothing and crafts. She has so far published more than 10 titles, many of which have been added to the collections of national libraries in Singapore and Malaysia or adopted as textbooks at some Chinese schools.

For Gu, writing became a way to share her own learning process with others rather than present herself as an authority.

"I write for readers who are discovering these things just as I once did, and I simply share what I've learned along the way," she said.

Back in 2008, hanfu was more commonly regarded as formal or ceremonial attire. Since then, attitudes toward it have gradually changed.

"I wear hanfu in my daily life now," Gu said. "To me, it's no different from putting on a shirt or a pair of jeans."

In 2025, she was selected for the Asia-Pacific Leaders Initiative, a program that recognizes promising young leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region.

Another honoree that year was Fu Liping, 32, a cross-border e-commerce entrepreneur. While Gu brings elements of traditional Chinese culture to audiences overseas, Fu helps Chinese consumer brands reach customers abroad.

Fu's business supports brands expanding into overseas markets and also operates its own cosmetics brand. Latin America, particularly Mexico, is its main market.

She said Chinese technology companies such as BYD and DJI are already well known in many parts of the world, while many Chinese lifestyle and beauty brands have yet to achieve the same level of recognition.

"Korean cosmetics have benefited from the global popularity of K-pop," Fu said. "Chinese cosmetics don't yet have the same cultural momentum behind them."

Her team responded by tailoring its products to local preferences. While Chinese consumers often favor natural-looking makeup, Latin American consumers tend to prefer brighter, bolder styles. The team therefore adopted more vivid packaging and, after finding that Mexican consumers were particularly fond of Chihuahuas, incorporated Chihuahua imagery into the design of one of its flagship products.

She also sees China's strong supply chains as a major advantage for companies adapting products for overseas markets.

"One of China's biggest strengths is how quickly manufacturers can respond to demand. If the market wants something different, they can adjust quickly or develop something new," she said.

As interest in China grows, young Chinese people are finding their own ways to build connections between China and the wider world.

For Tan, the value of that exchange lies less in explaining one society to another than in creating opportunities for direct contact.

"Our generation has grown up exposed to information and cultures from around the world," Tan said. "That gives us a chance to act as a bridge — not by speaking for either side, but by creating more opportunities for people to meet, experience and understand one another directly."

mengwenjie@i21st.cn