I Let Chinese Influencers Decide What I Eat In China for 24 Hours

Most people visiting China head straight to Shanghai, Beijing, or Chengdu. But tucked away on China’s southeast coast is Xiamen, a city many Chinese foodies quietly consider one of the country’s best food destinations. For centuries, Xiamen has been an important port city, where seafood arrives fresh every morning and culinary influences from Fujian, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia have blended together into a cuisine unlike anywhere else in China. The result is food that’s all about highlighting fresh ingredients rather than covering them up with heavy spices. At the heart of it all is Ba Shi Market (八市), Xiamen’s legendary wet market. More than just a place to buy groceries, it’s a living food destination where generations of family-run vendors serve recipes that have been perfected over decades. Locals line up every morning for everything from giant pork buns and peanut soup to oyster pancakes, taro cakes, glutinous rice dumplings, braised pork rice, fresh seafood, and countless snacks you won’t find outside Fujian. Today, I’m putting Xiamen’s food scene to the ultimate test by eating only what China’s biggest foodie app, RedNote (Xiaohongshu), tells me to eat. Will the viral recommendations live up to the hype… or are the locals keeping the real gems a secret?