Finally a comprehensive, open-minded account of being Black in China. I've seen some very simple, ignorant videos on this subject from people who clearly expect Western culture to be mirrored everywhere they travel. You managed to speak about annoyances and even insulting experiences in an understanding way. "To be offended that someone would think I'm from Africa, I had to really look at myself". You're an inspiration. Thank you.

wise girl. and beautiful. wish u all the best in china！

I Love Your Video! You are such a kind and beautiful person! You win me over by your kind soul, your polished use of language. You are truly inspirational. You are a great representative of your culture! Subscribed!

Great video. A lot of your experiences matched mine while being in India. Taking pictures, touching your skin etc. You have a fabulous natural look, really cool. Greetings from Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

I am an Asian/American and my son is half Caribbean. Recently I moved back to Tianjin to care for my parents. I absolutely love this video, and how you carry yourself, and willing to educate our people with positivities and kindnesses. You are blessed with a beautiful soul.

Hey thanks for posting your video! As a Chinese-American, I often wonder what it feels like to experience racism in non-white contexts. I'm sorry to hear that people gave you disgusted looks, and I apologize on behalf of everyone in China for that. No one should have to experience disgust at the way they look, and I'm truly sorry for how you were treated. Also, I'm happy that you gave China such a fair treatment when analyzing why people would behave in certain ways! So many people just conclude that the whole country is racist but don't consider the historical background or the level of media exposure. I think it's especially problematic that the "basic" American is still white, simply because the media and film industry don't show people of color.

I'm Chinese and I think you're beautiful.

watching this video made me feel so relieved! I am British and planning to work in China for three months and the only thing putting me off was going was the colour of my skin due to some of the negative things I have heard, so thank you for your help!

A good attitude is important for black people to live in China. If you always think people see you differently, you will never get peace of mind. But most people are out of curiosity with no bad intention. I am glad you are learning to enjoy it there.

Great video! I just moved to China a month ago so I can totally relate to this. My experience has been mostly positive so far. I have only gotten one look of disgust out of thousands so that says a lot. I enjoy the aspect of broadening people's horizons as well and just being here as broadened my own!

wow I needed this. Definitely going to accept my teaching offer in Ningbo. Thank you for this!

I'm moving to Shenzhen to teach in March and I'm excited. This is a once in a lifetime experience and I can't let the melanin in my skin limit my life experiences. I've experienced racism and discrimination in my native U.S. It's hard to be black. Period.

I couldn't agree with you more! We need to get out there in greater numbers and give other countries positive experiences with our community. That's one way to change things.

I'm Chinese and I find you really beautiful! I really love your personality and your wisdom. Subscribed!

Congrats for your analisys about the Chinese behaviour towards black people. This is the beauty of travel: learn and teach too. I'm a Black Brazilian living in Australia. I have been to China twice and totally loved the experience. Now I'm learning Mandarim :) All the best to you.

I am SO impressed at your clear & concise communication of your maturation over time there. Keep enlightening yourself!! WE NEED A LOT MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU!!

beautifully articulated.......beautiful + articulate.......

I am so proud of you, not so many young women or black females are bless with the level of understanding that you have. again I am super proud of you, remember you are special.

I would legit go crazy. I gotta commend you for being able to live there and put up with all the ignorance and feeling so foreign. It's sad that their country is so secluded that they treat black people like they're from another planet 🌎.

Appreciate ur good notes :D and I do think u even have a better insight than I do as Chinese myself

I am glad you are understanding of their behaviors. Usually when people stare, it's because a person is rare and beautiful...just like when we stare at celebrities. So long as they don't make mean remarks or stalk you. I don't understand why the western world has taught people that staring is such a negative act. Also, sometimes "glancing" can be confused for staring. I agree...a lot has to do with how we feel about ourselves. If we don't like ourselves, we won't like people staring at us...and we'll think they don't like us too.

I loved this video! It's so honest, so true, and i'm glad you experienced all of this and you're sharing it with the world what it really is like to be black in china.... I feel sad that people think chinese people are racist... i think they're just ignorant about race and insensitive about the subject... of course there are racist people in china... but saying that chinese ppl are racist, that's just being racist as well (kind of, if u know what i mean).... anyways... thumbs up on this video!

Hey there! from Tennessee. Proud of you.

Your eyebrows are dope Sister!

Great and informative video. You're obviously a very smart and extremely understanding person

You have the qualities of a diplomat. Seriously. Someone gave me the same compliment and I took it to heart. I was a volunteer teacher in Honduras and several other countries and what I have discovered is that it comes down to attitude, intellect and courage. You have to be a representative(teacher and student). If you are going to a different country with the hopes that everybody is going to love you(or should love you) stay home. Its not realistic. Your heart and mind isn't prepared for it. Truth is. everyone do not have the mentality to work and live in another country. You can learn the language and culture but you more so have to learn to fully respect that culture, both its good and bad. That's what makes a good "diplomat", because you have to have the mindset of a diplomat, the ability to BALANCE...taking a negative and making it a positive. The most successful ones have that ability.

Travelling to Thailand soon, thank you so much for making this video

Beautiful-looks, brains and not afraid to speak(post). The complete package. You go girl.

Your video is beautiful. Thank you for educating all of us.

Thank you for your video very interesting analysis of your experiences living in China. I am currently living in China and previously lived in Mexico and Jordan. I have experienced culture shock on different levels during my travels. Mexico was probably the most extreme for me until I learned the language and could converse with the people. It really was an education learning their ways and how they see things and it is helped me to be more reflective and less reactive when I went to Jordan and China teaching. I normally find the key is to stay calm, and also to read about social concepts that exist and colleagues to explain them. It can help develop conversation and understanding. I also during interactions relax and not to take offence when something out the ordinary happens. I tend to be self depreciating at my own lack of knowledge and laugh at myself which often helps others to calm down. I get on well with my Chinese and foreign colleagues, love the food and though I do find it a challenge making friends in China. I keep faith that I am not the only one in this situation and that normally you are placed in difficult circumstances to learn and grow.

Beautiful video! I'm contemplating giving up my current career to teach in China, and these sort of videos help with the decision making process. :) Also, I've learned that a bit of Mandarin goes a long way. Thank you! PS: You resemble Kerry Washington more than Beyonce or Kelly Roland - just as pretty!

Hey! I just recently came back from China a few days ago as a school trip and I can relate to majority of what you said. I had an amazing experience me being a teenager going to China but I had difficulty understanding the culture at first. Everywhere my school went there were people (mainly adults) staring and taking pictures but I couldn't understand why that was okay. Also, in the grade schools the little kids would ask for our autographs which I found very strange but very flattering. There was a more pleasant reaction of our presence from children rather than from adults, and I slowly got used to it. I 100% agree with this whole video. It just takes learning the culture and accepting that the cultures of different countries can be different from your home. And taking offense to it isn't the best idea if you want to have a positive experience. I didn't really get to experience how it was for me personally ( me being African American) but I did get to feel how it felt that be a foreigner in China. Thank you so much for the positive video :)!

I'm looking forward to traveling to China and having my own experiences. Thank you for sharing yours and I love your growth. How wonderful is that. To be able to embrace your heritage, your African roots and then put it into perspective as an African American that shows the beauty of your education and journey.

I really loved this video. I'm trying traveling to Shanghai and Hong Kong in August. It makes me feel good to hear this perspective. I'm going to go into it with the perspective that my experience will also be a learning experience for everyone I meet and vice versa! I'm going to Shanghai Disney too, I hope I don't get a bunch of kids saying Wow all day lol Thanks for this video!

It's an unexpected unbiased video. I agree with every single sentence you said in this video. Your interpretation in this video is very objective and not twisted at all.

@4:57 "I made a personal decision not to be offended." I love that. You are a great reminder that being offended is often a learned response! Everyone has the power to reframe their view of the world and most people do not insult others on purpose. That's very cool

Hey Lady, I really enjoyed this video. Many of your observations and reflections on how to deal with your personal growth while in China shows how strong minded you are. Thanks for the video.

i must say tgis video has been super enlightening

You took the right approach not to be offended. If you truly love yourself and vibrate that love to others wherever you are, people are going to love you because YOU love you. You are a beautiful woman inside and outside. You represent black people quite well.

I like that you decided to look at things positively and realistically vs getting very offensive and defense at every turn. Thank you for leaving a positive impression of Black Americans.

Thank you for your insight and understanding where you were. Your a very pleasant person.

You girl have a beautiful soul. Hope you enjoy your time in China.

>>----------------------> Thank you for being a great American ambassador!

I just found this video. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm going to Guangzhou to visit and this information will be very helpful.

you're very mature, intelligent and open-minded ♡

I love your thoughts on this issue, you are a very sweet, beautiful and insightful.

Wow! This is great! A very positive, but REAL perspective of how things are in China. Props!

wow you've really helped me a lot. I never been to China and it's on my bucket list to go there. Seeing your video help prepared me for this journey that otherwise wouldn't know what to think once I got there.

Loved this! Similar to my experience in Thailand.

I wish there are more people like you in this world!!

Your video was so pleasant and intelligent it was a joy just listening to you.

I applaud your maturity and insight Tierra. I think calmness and empathy will always yield better results in the face of ignorance. These are difficult things to follow more often than not however, I admire your strength. Subscribed!

Thank You for this! I subscribed!

I love how you explain about China and the advices you gave to others. I totally agree with you that China doesn't have enough black people there to learn about them. I will use myself as an example. Growing up in Hainan, I don't remember seeing black people. So when I first moved to Suriname ( a country in South America where the majority of the population was black) when I was 8 years old, that's when I first saw black people. Like what you said, China restricted a lot of news and information from other counties; therefore, what I knew about black people was what the elders told me, which was very negative. However, after going to school and made friends with black propel, I later learned that what I was being told was completely contradicting from my personal experience. Some would blame on media, but I think it's also because the media would only present hard news, which is usually very bad. I hope you had a great time in Haikou.

Love this video! You speak the truth :)

Thanks for sharing with us your unique experiences.

your a good educator... both theory and practice! thank u... I just started traveling... hope to visit china

Thank you for sharing your experience!

love your perspective!

I went to visit 3 years ago. Nothing negative. A baby stared and pointed at me on the subway and a few younger people asked to take pictures with me but all in all a great cultural experience.

Girl, you got it spot on. You should be very proud of your self!

That was very interesting, thank you for sharing that!

Great explanation of your experience. I'm black(African American/Nigerian) and my experience in China back in 2010 was positive. Made friends easily but got the stares and attention everywhere I went. Finally got used to it. people wanted to take pictures and come up to chat with me. I didn't see this behavior in Hong Kong or Macau but mainland China.

Love the way you did the video

When an Asian taxi driver asks "Where are you from? ", He just wants to know how MUCH he can rip you off. Westerner = More Money !!

You've understand how to approach people, a recipe that works (almost) everywhere in the world. Being humble, polite, curious, understanding!

I wacthed your video with enjoy.I agree to you,you are outtalking this good.Go contunie take videos about China:)I liked it.Best wishes for your chanel

Absolutely wonderful video.

What a great way of viewing it. I'm going there soon to meet my boyfriend's family and I'm so nervous about the reaction.

Hello, I first want to say that you're very beautiful (I just had to get this out the way LOL). Second, I'm black and lived in China for a year and my experience was very very positive. I was treated like a King over there and planned to go back after saving up enough money. I lived in a town called "Nantong" which was two hours away from Shanghai. And while I was in China, I met some of the most LOYAL people that I could ever meet. I made tons of friends over there that will be my friend for a lifetime. And I like how they made me the center of attention LOL. Strangers would just come up to me and bought me stuff. I was on television about 4 times when I was there. I remember if I was at a concert or a place where people were performing on stage, out of the huge crowd the performer would see me and invite me on stage LOL. I’m also a musician so I played drums in both a traditional Chinese band (LOL and I guess I jazzed up some of their music with some American styled beats LOL). I also played in a parade and I played the Tuba in an American styled band/orchestrate that they formed over there. I traveled around the country, drove a boat and I truly had a blast there. It is why I’m going back!! It was a beautiful experience contrary to what us black people hear and it was contrary to what I thought at first. Now yes, there was some discrimination over there and black people WILL encounter at least SOME biases. For instance, I taught English, music and piano lessons over there and found that SOME jobs didn’t want me teaching in their schools. So, I had to move. But, when I taught in a public school, I had success. I made my classes fun, and suddenly mothers wanted me to tutor their children. And so did men in shops when they found out that I was an American who spoke English. So yes, my advice to black people who want to go to China and even live there is DON’T let the actions of a FEW people make you think that ALL Chinese are the same because it’s quite the contrary and keep an opened mind and remember that they're learning from you too!! I can’t stress this enough! Thus, overall, my experience in China was very beautiful. And if I had any problems at all in China, it mostly came from other foreigners who tripped off me being black more than the Chinese did. And many of the other foreigners were just rude. Not all, but some. But, I just got away from those kinds of people. On the other hand, meeting other foreigners was also a great experience and adventure too (with its own story). For example, it was cool to meet people from Australia, England, Poland, India, Africa, the Middle East, the Bahamas, South Africa, other Asian countries, etc. I enjoy meeting people from around the world. Thus, these are GREAT stories too. And I’d say to people don’t forget to try to visit the other Asian countries if you can too. For example, I went to Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan and those were some BEAUTIFUL places too. I'd like to go to Taiwan one day too. So yes, I had beautiful experience and when I save up enough money, I’m definitely going back and in fact, I might stay in that part of the world for a LONG this time. I’ve had enough of the states, been here for a long time and its time for a change since there’s nothing really here for me anymore. Lately, I finished my Masters in Education, I got a TEFL certificate, I learned some programming/computer skills ALL to ensure that I never have to come back here again. Thus, these are my plans.

I like your attitude! You can choose how you want to respond to ignorance and whether you want to take it personally. Try to understand the other side. But instead we're being taught this mentality and culture in the west on university campuses that if someone is offended they're always the one that's correct. It doesn't matter what the intentions what the other person were.

you are wise and beautiful with good message you show much understanding God bless you.

I think your video is VERY informative for any women of color going to China! You really gave some insight to my concerns with going there in October. I am definitely working on " thickening my skin" before I go lol

I love this video. I love your outlook on this. Thanks for giving that tidbit of information at the beginning as well. That makes me see the situation more logically. I'm in Egypt and the reactions of the locals to me are similar. I HATE it. I literally deal with a lot of the same things you mentioned. 9/10 times, I'm always rude. I've thought about me being a reflection of black ppl as whole but at the time of my annoyance, that goes out of the window. However, after watching YOUR video and realizing some things on my own about myself these last few weeks, I think I will make a conscious effort to have a sunnier disposition about it all. Thanks.

Moving to China in a few months, so I'm pretty excited. Thanks for the video!... Also super random but the first thing I thought when I saw the video is that your hairstyle is beautiful!!

saw commercial about laundry and now after seeing your video. i understand why things are the way they are. it's culture not racism. thank you

Proud of u girlly!!!!!! Have this courage to come to a place where there is little black or white ppl and have the patience to educated our arrogant ppl and being very very wise

you're great! such a good insight of China.

Not in China, but I have many, many Chinese neighbors in my building. I'm currently teaching them to speak English, and to study for citizenship interviews. Most of the other Black people in this building, are verbally abusive, and don't get along well with them. That is mostly due to the difference in the cultures. You are absolutely correct about the way Chinese people examine Black people. When my students first got to know me, they began to touch and play with my dred locks. They seem fascinated with my hair more than my skin. They are very eager to expose me to as much of their culture as their understanding of America will allow. I'm frequently invited to dinner (they love to feed me), and I've learned to use chopstix. I feel kind of bad, though, that they truly want to be friends with me, but I have to admit that. because they are SO new to American culture, it's difficult to get close in the way they want. I've only been teaching them for four months...not long enough to understand how I should behave. Since they are new to this country, I try to be patient and civilized, but I'm almost sure I'm doing something offensive at times. Thank you for talking about your experiences. I might go the China someday.

Great video. I worked with Chinese people in the UK and what you said is true. You need to travel, discover and see the world. Too many people stay stuck in their little boxes.

love your positive attititude, helps that you're beautiful too.

You are so nice.. I wanna live in Japan and it'll be so fun to meet people totally different

so pretty ur skin n ur features r, who wont b fascinated

Your video helped me feel better about traveling to China :)

I don't know about media (online) because I always use Chinese streaming sites. When Key and Peele was airing, it was all over. I even watched "Black" films on youku etc. It's all accessible if you want to see it. In regards to the videos shared about Black people, other Chinese people purposefully choose "worldstarhiphop"-esque videos to upload.

Like everyone else has said on this comment thread, you are a smart and beautiful woman. I think your assessment is spot on and the way you handled yourself is the best way forward. As a white guy from America I also get lots of stares. Once you get away from the first tier cities people are not as used to foreigners so they are going to be curious. I have had strangers touch my nose because it is quite large. They have rubbed the hair on my arms. It is just curiosity. I get kids coming up to me all the time calling me a foreigner and laughing. It is all in good fun. As for Chinese being racist, my opinion is that most of them are. Ask them about their thoughts on races and intelligence. Ask them if they would allow their children to marry outside their race. That will make it clear to you that most are in fact racist. You can excuse it by saying that they are ignorant which is legit. But I think it is important to call it what it is.

This video is very funny. Thank you for sharing

You should definitely teach shawn kentv (thats the name of their channel) about their experience she was a bit ignorant to her experience. I love that you said you don't wan to leave a bad expedience with someone who have never met someone of a darker complexion.

I think you said your from Hekou. I'm from dongying very close to you. I think the black and white experience here is both very similar. i like your attitude, keep up the great work

Good advice, and good job sister!

You're such a beautiful soul x

OMG!!! u are speaking the truth. chinese are not racism but just luck of kinda common sense sometimes. but good people!

So off-topic...I love your hair!😍 If you don't mind, please share your hairstyle info if it's a protective style. The texture's so natural, like I would want. Thank you.

I see your video is two years old but I wanted to say your very well spoken. I live in Thailand and the situations are exactly the same for the same reasons. Even though, Thailand doesn't practice censorship most people have had little exposure to other races than their own. Thanks for explaining things so clearly.

African American man going to hong kong island next month and cant wait for the experience!

You made a good point. When I visited a remote area of the Philippines, the people asked me which European country I was from. People wanted to feel my arms and my boney nose. So what? It's funny and shows they want to know more about you.

Kind of like being a brown person (East Indian) in rural Louisiana. Some people here never leave their hometowns, never been on a plane an live under a rock. The comments you hear at times really make you pause. I try to see myself as a window for them to the outside world. Through me , they can learn that people are just people and we are more similar than different

you are amazing great video awesome attitude

I have been to countries in Asia while in the military and some many times and found the culture in each one to be different than here in the United States. I spent two years in Thailand during the Vietnam War, and also spent time in Japan, The Philippines, and South Korea, but not China. First off I would not want to go to China because of my military service and would not want to be held hostage so that China could get someone freed here in this country. The other reason is that the remarks I heard from those living there is more negative than positive about the government, and many people there.

Wise and beautiful woman, like the way you talk, greeting from another Chinese fellow