HANOI, September 13 — For years, Vietnam has been the standard example cited by analysts who argue that China’s soft power falls flat in Southeast Asia. A millennium of resistance against Chinese domination, a border war still within living memory, unresolved maritime disputes and elite surveys showing deep Vietnamese distrust of Beijing all pointed the same way. Beneath that surface, something quieter has been building.
Chinese dramas have long been a fixture of Vietnamese television, and Vietnam is now among Asia’s largest markets for them, with reach amplified by digital distribution. Content from major Chinese streaming platforms including iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku is carried on Vietnamese platforms such as VieOn and FPT Play.
Some Vietnamese celebrities have found wider fame on Chinese reality shows, and hit Chinese formats have been adapted for Vietnamese audiences.
From Bubble Tea to Labubu
Chinese brands have won over young Vietnamese with trendy designs and affordable prices. Mixue, the Chinese ice cream and tea chain, had expanded to more than 1,300 Vietnamese outlets by late 2024, making Vietnam its second-largest overseas market. Chagee, Cotti Coffee, KKV and Pop Mart have followed, turning shopping centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City into showcases of “Made in China” cool.
Crowds queue for Labubu toys. New media carries the shift further.
TikTok counts more than 70 million monthly active users in Vietnam, out of 460 million across Southeast Asia, and sits within a broader Chinese digital ecosystem channelling content on Chinese culture and daily life to regional audiences. Vietnamese-language content on TikTok and Facebook, including from Vietnamese influencers living in or travelling through China, offers viewers a window onto Chinese cities, landscapes and the rhythms of life and work there.
Governments Push Youth Exchange
Both governments have leaned into the trend. The 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the designation of 2025 as the “Year of Vietnam-China Humanistic Exchange” saw officials on both sides promoting youth engagement. The joint statement during President Xi Jinping’s state visit in April 2025 invited Vietnamese youth to join “Red Study Tours”; more than 1,000 have done so, visiting sites commemorating shared revolutionary history, among them the former base of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in Guangzhou, alongside hi-tech hubs showcasing China’s modern development and technological achievements.
Travel and economic incentives have widened the door. Two-way travel has expanded with growing rail and air links.
Since August, Vietnamese citizens have been able to transit China visa-free for up to 10 days, and the Vietnam-China Tourism Cooperation Years 2026-2027 initiative aims to further strengthen people-to-people ties. Chinese visitor arrivals to Vietnam surged 41.3 per cent to 5.3 million in 2025, making China Vietnam’s largest source of tourists, while Vietnam had become China’s fourth-largest source market by mid-2026. Education tells a similar story.
The number of Vietnamese students in China has more than doubled, from 11,300 in 2018 to about 25,000 today. Chinese-language jobs are in demand, and Chinese content goes viral on social media.
What to watch next is whether this bottom-up warmth can outlast the strategic tensions that have long defined the relationship — and whether the tourism cooperation years and expanded student flows deepen the trend or simply paper over it.
