On a weekday morning in February, the Chinese government embellished an area of the international terminal of San Francisco International Airport with splashes of its stately vermillion. By the ticket counter for Air China, crew members passed around a tiny panda doll as they readied for a group photo before their flight to Beijing. Because it was the second day of Lunar New Year, they posed next to a banner for 2026 as a representative from the Chinese Consulate captured the San Francisco sendoff.
The group photo joined others of smiling passengers that would eventually appear on screens thousands of miles away in China. While it was a pretty standard photo, all things considered, it achieved its intended goal, said David Wang with the Chinese Consulate: to show off a polished side of San Francisco.
If more posts on Chinese social media highlight a typical day in San Francisco — like smooth travel procedures — it could challenge unsavory perceptions someone might have for visiting the city. Or more broadly: the United States, as Chinese visitation numbers nationwide continue to stall at half their peak compared with a decade ago…