Foreign buyers check out China-made thermos cups during an expo in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. CHEN JIMIN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE

There is a popular saying, for overseas people, if you drink hot water, wear slippers at home, and shopping at Asian markets, you may be Chinese.

Since the beginning of this year, a lot of foreign netizens have uploaded videos of themselves drinking hot water and practicing tai chi onto the internet in a popular social media phenomenon.

"The internet is embracing Chinese traditions, and influencers welcome them all," reported The New York Times.

The hot wave has extended to consumption. According to the General Administration of Customs, in the first quarter, China's popular products such as thermos cups, tea and electric kettles have achieved year-on-year growth in exports.

A cultural resonance originating from social media has brought tangible trade growth and become a vivid footnote to the "Chinese brands exporting lifestyle overseas".

A British student Emma Jane Sandford has fully embraced life as a true local in China. From drinking hot water and trusting traditional Chinese medicine, to browsing food markets and falling in love with Sichuan cuisine — she's taken "when in China, do as the Chinese do" to the next level.

In 2013, her father told her to learn Chinese. Later on, Emma moved to Chengdu, Sichuan province, as a foreign student. She has been living in China for five years, a period that has made her realize her lifestyle has been totally Chinese.

Meanwhile, she is embracing TCM. She goes to a TCM clinic regularly, takes her pulse, has acupuncture and moxibustion, and drinks Chinese medicine.

Tania Glouhtcheva, a journalist from Bulgaria, said that when she first arrived in China, she couldn't understand why her Chinese friends offered her a cup of hot water. However, she has gradually gotten used to drinking hot water now. Because of her experience in China, when she got back to her country, she still drinks hot water.

Xu Liang, deputy secretary-general of the bottle branch of China Grocery Products for Daily Use Marketing Society, said that with increasing overseas demand in thermos cups, China-made small-sized, exquisite cups sold well in Japan and South Korea, while large-sized cups are well sold in Europe and the United States.

Wang Jun, deputy head of the General Administration of Customs, said at an earlier news conference that many foreign netizens express their strong interest and love for Chinese culture by experiencing Chinese lifestyles such as drinking hot water, wearing cotton slippers, and practicing baduanjin, a tradition Chinese exercise routine.

The cultural craze that began on the internet has also spurred consumer demand for Chinese products.

"For example, popular items such as thermos cups and tea were exported for 5 billion yuan ($738.5 million) and 2.7 billion yuan, respectively, in the first quarter, while related electric kettles and goji berries were also exported for about 200 million yuan each, both achieving year-on-year growth," said Wang.

Lin Xianping, associate professor at Hangzhou City University, said: "At present, the Chinese lifestyle has become popular overseas, giving rise to a new wave of domestic products going global, bringing new growth momentum to China's foreign trade development, and vividly reflecting the transformation of cultural soft power into economic hard power."