It’s the most populous country on earth and its tourists are heading to Britain in ever greater numbers – encouraged by their own version of influencers.
So what do the surging band of Chinese visitors make of holidays in Britain?
A Daily Mail investigation of content posted on Chinese platforms like RedNote and Douyin uncovered a hilarious stream of amazed reaction to a country they previously only knew from Downton Abbey, Peaky Blinders, Harry Potter and Paddington Bear.
There was astonishment at everything from our changeable weather to how workshy and crime-ridden our country can seem in comparison to their homeland – but particular shock is reserved for British food.
Star billing here goes to an influencer called Tian BingBing, who is better known in China as TiBiBi, a singer and influencer with over 250k on Douyin, a site akin to TikTok which is banned there.
Tian, from the city of Xi’an in central China, is taken for a surprise trip to a famous Cockney eel, pie and mash shop, Manze’s near Tower Bridge, when she had been expecting a less traditional but more glamorous date night in an upscale restaurant in the nearby Shard.
In the quirky video recording her pie and mash night Tian describes the traditional green ‘liquor’ – or parsley sauce – swamping the dish as ‘Shrek soup’.
The historic shop proclaims itself ‘the oldest surviving eel and pie house first opened in 1892’, and among the celebrities on the wall is Thomas Skinner, the former Apprentice star about to compete in Strictly Come Dancing.
Not mush to say: Chinese singer and social media influencer Tian Bi Bi tried traditional English pie and mash at Manze’s near Tower Bridge – and was left unimpressed
Tian Bi Bi pretends to scold her boyfriend Damian for not taking her to a fancy restaurant in The Shard, but instead to Manze’s, a traditional English eel, pie and mash shop in Southwark
Influencer Beijing Coco features two police officers on horseback riding past a London black cab – and tells her followers, ‘this is the England you imagined’ – before finding examples of all the things they did not
Down the tubes: Chinese social media user Good Vegetable Broccoli, from Shanghai, shows the graffitied interior of a London Underground train and asks her followers: ‘Doesn’t this look a bit dirty to you?’
Beijing Coco shows tourists wearing summer outfits, while others wear winter clothes, telling her followers: ‘The sun comes out just as soon as you start putting your down jacket on’
Four seasons in one day: Chinese social media user Beijing Coco bemoans the very changeable weather in the UK
RedNote cities ranked
1. Edinburgh
2. London
3. York
4. Cambridge
5. Oxford
6. Manchester
7. Brighton
8. Birmingham
9. Bath
10. Liverpool
But Tian is unimpressed looking at the menu, boasting various combinations of pie and mash, with eel – jellied or stewed.
She captions it: ‘the darkest cuisine over 100 years old in the UK’ and later calls it ‘famine escape food’.
Turning to her boyfriend, Damien, she comically tells him, shaking her finger: ‘I’ll hammer you to death tonight, I steam, steam, I tell you, dead 100 years!
‘Is there only one kind of food sold in this store? I had to queue up for this meal, but I’ll wait by the toilet.’
Seeing a tray of pies emerging from the oven, she wonders if they could be ‘English biscuits’, adding when she sees the green eel liquor, ‘I have a headache looking at it.’
When she sees her boyfriend forming his mashed potato on one side of the plate, she asks: ‘Are you afraid that the toilet will leak?
‘Or why did you build a potato barrier? I got beef pie, potatoes and this Shrek soup.’
Screwing up her face in disgust, she tells her followers: ‘It’s a national dish of the UK.’
Her own verdict on the eel: ‘I have never eaten such fishy fish. It’s just too fishy!’
She’s no more impressed by Damien’s choice bread pudding and custard and declaring herself ‘famished’, she makes a beeline for the Crystal China restaurant across the road for some ‘proper food’.
She holds up a tofu dish and declares: ‘I never eat British crappy food again.’
Another visitor called ‘Beijing Coco’ is more fascinated by the lawless British youth – no doubt in marked contrast to the well-behaved youngsters in China, where human rights violations by the police and security services are commonplace.
She posts videos of youths doing wheelies on the street and pavement, and observes that in a wine shop, the number of anti-theft devices ‘seems to exceed the number of products on sale!’
She compares British fashion to Peaky Blinders, with big coats, adding ‘One can experience four seasons in a single day, wearing a summer outfit one moment, then down jackets and umbrella the next.
‘Everyone sounds like characters from Downton Abbey with others not even trying to pronounce words properly – some people talk like they are rapping’ [believed to be a reference to the phenomenon known as MLE, or Multicultural London English].
She’s struck by some of the paradoxes of British life – surprised that the UK is ‘an advanced, rich and efficient country’, yet people still go to the Post Office to send cash and people work ‘at a snail’s pace’.
And despite ‘a well-linked and efficient transportation system’, the workers ‘often go on strike and hold stoppages for no reason.’
She believes the 20mph speed limit for cars is ‘nonsensical and far too slow.’
The moment of youth: Beijing Coco shows a video of a biker doing a wheelie while mid-riding
Steal or sparkling: Chinese social media user Beijing Coco shows her followers anti-theft devices on every bottle of alcohol seen on sale in this British shop and says: ‘The amount of anti-theft devices outstrips the amount of products on sale’
Beijing Coco’s video pans across traditional English architecture along with a caption that says, ‘The England you think of vs the real England’
Playing by the rules: Beijing Coco’s video shows people queuing for a bus in an orderly fashion and states: ‘Your impression of the UK is that it’s a lawful and orderly country. That society is orderly and organised’
Daylight robbery: Beijing Coco shows a thief wearing a balaclava and while riding a Lime bike and says: ‘Thieves being filmed on camera mugging phones in the big city’
And while she praises the Brits as ‘cultured, sophisticated and elegant’, when they’re drunk ‘they become like an [uncontrollable] video game NPC [non-player character].
Another Chinese tourist called Dorisaaaaa was tickled to see a woman on the Tube reading a book ‘Surrounded by Idiots’, then a succession of male passengers asked to have a selfie taken with her.
A poster calling themselves ‘Good vegetable broccoli’ from Shanghai described Tube seats as ‘unbearable’, adding ‘If there’s an empty seat that no-one takes, you better be careful. The seats are made of fabric – eugh!’
An anonymous poster claimed to film a pick-pocketing gang targeting a Chinese tourist outside Jack’s Gelato in Cambridge.
Someone calling themselves ‘HiyaScotland’ contrasted idyllic Instagram images of Edinburgh with the reality: an umbrella being blown inside during a gale. He added: ‘My mum said ‘don’t believe the social media’.
Another Chinese visitor called UanKids merely highlighted the wide variety of activities on offer to tourists in London, such as a Thames Cruise, on which ‘one can see the iconic and popular spots in London without walking much, waiting in queues or being stuck in a crowd.’
She also showed videos of Little Venice, Paddington Station’s bear statue, a shadow puppet show on a Canal boat theatre and the Sky Garden, in the ‘walkie-talkie’ [Fenchurch Building] offering ‘the best view of London’s most iconic landmarks, including St Paul’s.’
She showed Spitalfields Market in another video, observing ‘More popular among locals than Borough Market, has good Indian cheese naan and Chinese pancakes and vintage market.’
An interior shot of Manze’s traditional English eel, pie and mash shop near Tower Bridge is seen in Chinese singer and social media influencer Tian Bi Bi’s video in which she criticises the taste of eel, pie and mash.
An interior shot of Manze’s featured in Tian Bi Bi’s video in which she criticises the taste of eel, pie and mash
Tian Bi Bi did not find the eel soup served up at Manze’s eel, pie and mash shop to her liking
Making her eel: Tian Bi Bi can’t hold back her emotions as she tucks into traditional eel soup
At one point of trying the dish, Tian Bi Bi complains that the eel sup tastes ‘just too fishy’
Neal’s Yard didn’t seem to tickle her fancy, and she commented witheringly: ‘Colourful, best for ‘petit bourgeois’ Chinese tourists..’
Other highlights included the famous Harry Potter referencing Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross and Coal Drops Yard nearby with its live music, events and street stalls.
Miss Beijing Coco signposted recommended shopping emporia for Chinese visitors, including Whittard of Chelsea for its hot chocolate, Harrod’s for discounted Burberry items – famously popular in China – and other luxury products and limited edition high-end brands.
Somewhat oddly to highlight as a destination, she also singled out high street health store Holland and Barrett for health and wellbeing products such as grapeseed extract, evening primrose oil and cod liver oil.