A language guide to social media travel posting

旅游打卡的高級(jí)感，是文案給的

孫佳慧

Travel may once have been about exploring the world, understanding new cultures, and discovering oneself. But a glance at Chinese social media suggests the main point of hitting the road is to “check-in (打卡 dǎkǎ).”

The term originally referred to office employees punching in and out of work, and check-in tourism works in much the same way. One cannot just visit but must also post online as proof. Tourists head to specific hotspots, take beautiful generic photographs, and post them on social media with formulaic captions.

In 2023, feeds on Xiaohongshu and WeChat’s “Moments” were full of posts of people enjoying barbecue food in Zibo, Shandong province, after the previously unheralded city went viral. This year, check-in-obsessed travelers flooded to Tianshui, Gansu province, to try local malatang (麻辣燙 ) eateries that blew up online thanks to short videos on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok). Nearly 1 million tourists visited the city in just three days in April, almost doubling the city’s metropolitan population.

But maximizing “l(fā)ikes” on a check-in post is a skill. Attractive travel photos of trendy destinations are mandatory, but descriptive captions that flaunt the experience help. First comes the standard check-in line:

I successfully checked in at the Universal Beijing Resort!

Běijīng Huánqiú Yǐngchéng dǎkǎ chénggōng!

北京環(huán)球影城打卡成功！

Next, the poster must choose their voice. Perhaps they want to double down on the virality of their spot by focusing on another favorite check-in phrase: “I miss you so much here (我在這里很想你 Wǒ zài zhèlǐ hěn xiǎng nǐ),” similar to “Wish you were here” in English. The phrase has become ubiquitous at tourist destinations since a netizen’s post of a road sign in Chongqing with the slogan went viral in 2022. Netizens now write the phrase into their posts with their destination:

I miss you so much in Xiamen.

Wǒ zài Xiàmén hěn xiǎng nǐ.

我在廈門(mén)很想你。（剩余3745字）