BEIJING/SHENZHEN: Wang Shan is a broker of improbable beginnings.
The 28-year-old runs a small cross-border matchmaking service linking Chinese and Japanese singles – screening applicants, shaping profiles and choreographing first meetings across the East China Sea.
In her experience, clients prioritise personality; at times, sensitive topics like finances or family plans are discussed. Politics doesn’t enter the equation.
“Bilateral relations and politics have never come up in my dealings with clients,” she said. “Love and relationships are such a personal thing.”
Wang Shan typically handled about 10 new enquiries a week, and five couples who met through her agency have already married this year alone.
But in the past fortnight, that steady flow has almost vanished.
“I have practically not received any serious enquiries the past two weeks,” Wang Shan told CNA. “Recent news developments seem to have played a part.”
The sudden slowdown is a microcosm of the wider diplomatic chill between China and Japan, sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Nov 7 remarks in parliament.
She said that if an emergency in Taiwan entails “battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening (Japan’s) survival”, a legal term introduced in 2015 that would allow Japan to deploy its Self-Defense Forces.
Backlash from Beijing – which regards self-ruled Taiwan as an inalienable part of China under its one-China principle – has been fierce and swift, combining travel warnings to Japan and reported curbs on Japanese seafood imports with an escalated wave of state media and nationalist criticism.
Some analysts have told CNA the Nov 24 phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump points to a more positive trajectory for both US-China ties and the regional landscape, or at least not a worsening one.
Benjamin Ho, an assistant professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ (RSIS) China programme, described the current phase as “both a war of words and actions”, but said the overall situation remains contained so far.
But as it stands, the diplomatic chill has already made itself felt across various sectors – from F&B to travel and cultural exchanges.
Several Chinese residents and Japanese expatriates in China told CNA that daily life remains largely intact, but a quiet unease has crept in.
Some Chinese said they are being more cautious about Japan-linked outings, while Japanese residents acknowledge concerns that further escalation could eventually affect work or family plans.
RIPPLES IN EVERYDAY ROUTINES
The broader China–Japan chill is showing up most noticeably in travel and tourism.
After China urged its citizens to avoid Japan following Takaichi’s remarks, Chinese carriers and agencies processed large numbers of cancellations.
Aviation platforms tracked more than 40 suspended flights, according to local media on Nov 18.
As of Nov 24, Chinese airlines had cancelled flights on 12 routes to Japan, including popular leisure destinations such as Osaka and Kyoto.
Analysts estimate roughly 500,000 Japan-bound trips were dropped within days, a shock that impacted airlines, hotels and tour operators.
Liu Yuxing, a university student, said she and her friends had begun rethinking their plans after China’s travel advisory.
“We originally planned to travel to Osaka, Japan, before the 2026 Spring Festival and hadn’t booked the flights yet,” she was quoted as saying in a Nov 18 report by Chinese news portal Beijing Business Today.
“Now we’re discussing changing to a trip to Hong Kong and Macau instead.”
But not everyone is pulling back. Felix Wang, 32, a Chinese cultural worker who visits Japan “at least three to four times a year”, has booked a trip to Tokyo this week and intends to proceed.
He told CNA that geopolitics shouldn’t dictate ordinary encounters: “I’m going for a holiday, not to make a point. On past trips, I haven’t encountered hostility or safety problems, and I don’t expect this one to be any different,” he said.
Still, that personal resolve is not widely mirrored in spending patterns on the ground in China.
Japanese restaurant operators in the country have described fresh cancellations, thinner weekend reservations and a tilt towards delivery over dine-in, according to media reports.
Several operators in Beijing told the media that about half of their reservations have been cancelled after China’s Nov 14 travel advisory, while one said his November bookings fell by about 80 per cent year‑on‑year.
Some are trimming Japan-specific menu items and slowing promotional campaigns until sentiment stabilises.
Importers and traders cited tighter scrutiny on Japan-linked shipments – especially seafood – alongside hesitation on premium beverages such as sake and whisky as venues reassess demand and sourcing.
The chill is also seeping into personal relationships.
Lin, a Shenzhen local fast-food restaurant owner who asked to go by just his surname, said he began learning Japanese years ago because of his fondness for Japanese pop music.
He has many Japanese friends in the city whom he used to meet “every now and then”. But with the recent diplomatic row, Lin told CNA he plans to avoid meeting them for now.
“I am quite worried about how China-Japan relations will develop in future,” Lin said.
SHARED ANXIETIES
Anxieties are shared on the other side of the relationship as well.
Japanese expatriates in China said they, too, are beginning to feel the strain from the bilateral dispute, even if their routines remain largely unchanged for now.
Rie, 42, a human resources advisor and career development coach who wanted to be known only by her first name, runs a China-Japan cultural exchange community with more than 300 members across China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Africa.
She said the group has deliberately avoided discussing the issue, as conversations are kept away from politics. The community brings together students and seniors, as well as company employees and business owners.
While emphasising that she does not speak for the group, Rie said she personally feels that members with ties to both China and Japan are hoping to have a “good discussion” on the matter.
“No one wants both countries to fight against each other,” Rie said.
Rie is preparing to host an in-person culture exchange event in Shanghai in late December.
She had originally aimed for about 20 participants, but is watching sentiment closely. “I will see if I need to change this goal also. I will need to see the people’s reaction; a smaller gathering may be better.”
When asked about the recent advisory from Tokyo urging Japanese citizens in China to stay alert and avoid large crowds, Rie said those familiar with the country are unlikely to overreact.
“Japanese who have been to China even once understand the reality, so they wouldn’t be worried just by hearing the news from a random media or mass media,” she said.
In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, a place with deep commercial ties to Japan, sentiments appeared largely calm on the ground.
A Japanese employee at an electronics company told CNA that his day-to-day experience has been largely unaffected.
“It feels fine. I do not really notice any difference,” said the employee, who did not wish to be named.
Fujimoto, a 42-year-old working in the education sector who wanted to be known by his last name, shared a similar view. He has been in Shenzhen for two years and plans to stay for another two.
“I think Shenzhen is better, because there are a lot of Japanese companies here,” he said, adding that the situation may feel different for families.
According to official Shenzhen data released in May, Japan has invested in around 1,150 enterprises in the city, with more than US$3.8 billion in actual foreign investment.
The same dataset shows that Shenzhen has set up 136 enterprises and institutions in Japan, with a total agreed investment of US$430 million.
“For me, I work alone, so it’s still okay. But I have friends with family here, so they are more worried,” Fujimoto said.
Local property agents said this is not the first time China-Japan tensions have sharpened. Most compounds, schools and companies already have layers of security and contingency measures in place, helping to steady the mood on the ground, they added.
Yet a Shenzhen-based property agent who works closely with Japanese expatriates told CNA she has noticed a subtle shift. While most firms still try to “separate politics from business”, more of them are sending individual staff over rather than relocating whole families.
“I think it’s understandable,” she said. “There would be more complications if families ever needed to be evacuated.”
She added that expatriate postings are usually arranged in November and December, and most decisions for this year were locked in well before the current diplomatic chill.
WAVE OF ONLINE CRITICISM
But while the ground-level mood stays relatively calm, the temperature has been rising online and in official messaging, with Chinese state media sharpening the narrative around Japan.
On Nov 18, state broadcaster CCTV published a short animated reel on social media platforms. The lyrics use the Chinese phrase “gao shi” or “cause trouble”, which is a homonym of Takaichi’s last name in kanji, to describe her remarks.
As of Nov 26, the video had drawn over 40 million views on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Other state media and government-linked outlets have likewise published reports critical of Takaichi, echoing themes of history, sovereignty and “provocation”.
Beijing’s reactions are rooted in history as much as geopolitics – wartime atrocities, post-WWII grievances and unresolved territorial disputes continue to frame how China sees Japan.
President Xi told US counterpart Trump in a phone call on Nov 24 that Taiwan’s “return to China” at the end of World War II was a key part of Beijing’s vision for the world order.
Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, cautioned that if emotions boil over, people may become more willing to take extreme steps.
In 2012, a flare-up over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands ignited some of the largest anti-Japan protests in China in years.
Rallies spread across major cities, and anger on the streets sometimes tipped into vandalism and boycotts: Japanese-branded shops and restaurants were targeted, factories and dealerships temporarily shut, and even Chinese owners of Japan-made cars reported attacks and damage.
But Wang Yiwei said the context has shifted, with Japan less central to China’s trade, investment and overall influence.
“Japan’s economy no longer has the same importance for China as before … we shouldn’t compare (what could happen now) too simplistically with the past,” he said.
Ho from RSIS said the current actions taken by the Chinese are “rather of a lower level intensity”.
But as it stands, the Sino-Japanese chill is already reshaping decisions at the most personal level.
Wang Shan, the cross-border matchmaker, said the past fortnight has forced a rethink. “At first we thought our business would not be impacted because love transcends (nationalities) – a mantra we wanted to believe,” she said.
“But it seems love doesn’t transcend geopolitics. People worry about being judged; for now, openly adoring anything Japanese can feel unwelcome.”