What is it like to be a Black American in China? - Intermediate Chinese - In-Depth Interview

How do Chinese treat Black Americans compare to White American? Eileen interviews an American teacher in China to find out.
List of Questions:
1. Why did he come to China?
2. His first impressions of China
3. His experiences of racism in China
4. His legal battle with Chinese employers
5. Is it more difficult for Blacks to find jobs in China?
6. Cultural differences in dating between China and the US
7. Differences between Chinese and American girls
8. Meeting his Chinese girlfriend’s family
9. How did he learn Chinese?
10. Advice for Blacks who want to come to China to work
Music: Blue Skies by Silent Partner
Watch this video WITHOUT English subtitles:
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[@MandarinCorner2]

*Download pdfs, audio (mp3), videos, Anki flashcards, HSK courses and more for as low as $10!* mandarincorner.org/store/

[@ThePrototypler]

Love the one on one interviews, it's easier to follow for me. Especially if it's a 外国人 because they usually use familiar vocab. Great work, Eileen! 🙏🏻

[@MegaJohnf1]

An outstanding episode...maybe the best Ive seen yet...very practical and useful and topical talk...Error free and no difficult accents to deal with...I salute the guest...and of course, the hostess....

[@stormingstormer360]

I love how she is baffled by the lack of walking space

[@69jeroni]

This will be interesting to watch as a black American who has watched the channel for years.

[@MandarinCorner2]

*List of Questions:* 1. Why did he come to China? 2. His first impressions of China 3. His experiences of racism in China 4. His legal battle with Chinese employers 5. Is it more difficult for Blacks to find jobs in China? 6. Cultural differences in dating between China and the US 7. Differences between Chinese and American girls 8. Meeting his Chinese girlfriend’s family 9. How did he learn Chinese? 10. Advice for Blacks who want to come to China to work

[@BenJones1127]

Thank you so much Eileen, this was so fun to do!!

[@sofyanuiste5935]

you have best channel for learn Chinese - keep going

[@AssassinFOURnolan]

didnt expect to see my friend and coworker Ben here. We all miss him here in Yiwu, he has been a constant inspiration to improve my squats

[@BritishJackTalks]

Always the best videos from Eileen!

[@ollieanntan4478]

This interview is fascinating. His positive attitude and overall understanding in light of some of the negative experiences he went through is truly inspiring. It makes me feel more confident to visit China. If he can do it, it can be done.

[@aoeu256]

Wow this guy received so much racism, but he is so level-headed. I received half as much racism in Japan as a hispanic guy, and I turned a bit crazy. 哇，这家伙受到了如此多的种族歧视，但他却很冷静。 我在日本受到的种族主义只有一半，我变得有点疯狂。 我认为我继续学中文，我已经得到了HSK6，我想外包软件工作。 我去中国的时候，我想联系了很多朋友。

[@TonyTinker-hc3zq]

I'm Mexican and many people liked me a lot in Japan and I even had women asking me out. I don't think japanese are racist to latinos

[@basicvince]

I am black in China too. Will listen to his perspective

[@aoeu256]

真了吗，你的中文的水平是什么高，I am a puerto rican guy I have HSK5 and JLPTN1. 你会不会联系我吗？ 我想知道你的Experience.

[@basicvince]

@@aoeu256 真的。可以。

[@adgurl01]

我也❤

[@ollieanntan4478]

What has your experience been like so far?

[@basicvince]

@@ollieanntan4478 Great experience. I started out in a city called Baotou. People treated me like a king there honestly. I was there for two years then I moved to Nanjing. I got less attention, but it is still nice in Nanjing. Though, I don't think Nanjing is better than Baotou. haha. For the most part, people are friendly. I have experienced some racist incidents though. Long stories short: got called the n-word(in Chinese) by a mentally ill drunk man that was picking a fight with anyone who went into that small supermarket that he was there to buy more liquor in. Got called the N word by a girl who was jealous because she liked me at first, but I didn't like her back and refused to date her. Her attitude changed towards me and an n word(in Chinese ) came out angrily during a conversation we were having one day. Other than that if you look on Chinese tik tok or xiaohongshu you will see a lot of negative comments (n-words) being directed at black men, exactly like he is talking about in this video. Look on youtube and find that video of Sonny Weems when he first came here to play. He still lives here by the way. Other than that small negative stuff, I still really like it here, I am treated well and have fun here. Learning Mandarin is a challenge, but I am consistent. It is really safe here too and the technology here is amazing.

[@talorrrani12314]

非常感谢主持人邀请这么有趣的人进行了采访！

[@kirillnovik8661]

Awesome interview! Not an easy topic at all. Ben's Chinese is phenomenal 👍 Eileen is charming as always 🌷

[@basicvince]

He is right. The comments on xiaohongshu and douyin are notorious

[@PerryCuda]

27:18 this is exactly what happened at my small town training center. The police officer got free VIP lessons (600 yuan an hour) with a foreigner. In return the officer would tip off our training center when a police audit would occur so our "illegal foreign teachers" could stay home, plus he would do random police audits on rival training centers.

[@imkaai]

Bacteria and germs are less active at lower temperatures. This is why most public places and buildings continuously set thermostats to low a temperature. For example, you rarely come across a hot hospital； usually they are freezing. There are also many products which instruct to maintain quality, set in specific temperatures usually at a lower range.

[@jeanbon6710]

11:15 I live also in China, for 3 years now, I'm white, and yeah same, in a lot of places, every one will say Laowai laowai, and observe you, like staring at you, like if you come from another galaxy. It can be very tiring in fact and just for that reason, I honestly stopped personally to go to too crowdy areas. Ben is black, and it's even worse this situation here for black people, so big respect to him, I was really impressed during this interview by hig great spirit, way of thinking, to not globalize to every chinese, to see positive aspects first in life, and try to not get angry or irritated by those people, focusing on good people in China, who also of course exist, I have also my good friends here, I'm sure like he does. Last time, I was with my motorbike to the gaz station and here in China, you don't put oil inside by yourself (like in France where I am from), but it's women workers who do it for you, and you pay to them. Then immediately once I arrived she noticed I'm white, I'm every time surprised by their ability to notice it so quick, and just shout at me "老外来了，他 听不懂" and I was not in such a great mood that day, I have also worse character than Ben, and I replied by shouting too (a lot of chinese people always shout to communicate, something also for me very hard here) 我听得懂呀！ and then she was a bit surprised. And then like always same question, where do I come from, I replied that I am chinese like you, I come from Xinjiang 我跟你一样，也是中国人呀，我是新疆人！好不好 and she replied 我以为你是外国人 well, he didn't mention it in this video, but it's something very tiring here, cause so many so many random people will ask you exactly same questions over and over again, which are 1 can you speak chinese (most of people assume you don't so they would talk about you on third person like 你看！老外 他听不懂我们的话 or stuff like that, honestly super impolite 2 where do you come from ? Which country ? 3 What is your job here ? 4 What is your salary (again super intrusive and super impolite) ? And some people will also talk to you in english as for them white people (or black people, well not racially asian, it's what the word laowai is for) can't talk chinese anyway. And always once you talk a bit in chinese, 你讲中文得那么好 which is also tiring at the end, when you hard it 100 times, you just want to have a normal conversation with people. All of this of course doesn't happen with people you know and hang out with, otherwise life would be impossible here. I guess when you are a bit new in the country all of that is pretty ok, as well, yeah you are racially different ok it's the way it is, but when you stay longer in the country, it can be super boring to have to reply to all of this again and again, like because you are racially different, you must give your private personal informations to every one in the street ...?? so sometimes, I just ask back "and you where are you from ? Which province ? What is your job ? How much do you make a month ?", I'm impressed by Ben honestly during this video, cause he seems so calm and patient, for me it's hard. Also people who insist to speak to you in english, even if you understand chinese (it must have happened so many times to Ben too), who consider themselves enough smart to speak a foreign language english, but for foreigners living in China no too stupid to talk chinese. Even if english is not your native language, some of those people will talk to you in english no matter what. Well, I honestly liked a lot this video, cause it's a bit real daily life of every foreigner (= waiguoren, non-racially asian, black, white, arab) living in China, and you have to accept it in a way, to continue to live in the country. And focus on positive aspects (which are also a lot, even if my message seems very negative about China, there are also a lot of greats aspects here). Personally what I would dream about, is a mask of asian, that you can put on your face, and then no one would say to you laowai, no one would socialise in a strange way, no one would try to talk in english, and you can go wherever you want without people staring at you, or wanting to take photos of you, or worse taking videos secretly like Ben describes in this video. But it's not possible unfortunately. I would definitely buy a mask like this in the future if there is one made :D By the way, it's not a question of language, even speaking like Ben totally fluent unfortunately won't change his race, it's 100% a racial thing (I speak chinese worse than him, I succeeded HSK4 and I'm around HSK5, but his chinese is definitely better than mine)

[@GriffithzDream]

This was a very interesting read, thank you for writing about your experiences.

[@jeanbon6710]

@@GriffithzDream Thanks, it was a very long message aha Maybe I’m a bit too negative in my message, again there are also some super nice things in China and of course a lot of Chinese people are super nice people. It was just a message based on my personal experience :)

[@GriffithzDream]

@@jeanbon6710 No problem. I find messages like yours to be more real than anything, because you are telling your experience good + bad as well as the circumstances. Comments like yours have a lot more value than you may think! :)

[@TheVenusProjectEnjoyer]

@@jeanbon6710 cool stuff

[@MandarinCorner2]

*TOO FAST?* Control the video's playback speed by speeding up or slowing down the video 5% at a time on desktop computers and laptops OR 25% at a time on smartphone! Access the playback speed controls as follows: *Desktop Computers and Laptops:* open the video, then go to the lower right of the video's screen and click on the settings icon (it looks like a GEAR). On the upper right of the options window that comes up, you will see the link "custom". Click on the "custom" link to control the video's playback speed by speeding up or slowing down the video 5% at a time. *Smartphones:* open the video and go to the upper right of the video's screen. You will see 3 dots. Click on them and you will see the link to open the "playback speed" controls. Click on this link and you will be able to control the video's playback speed by speeding up or slowing down the video 25% at a time. Note that viewing the video on desktop computer/laptops gives you greater control over the playback speed (5% vs 25% on smartphones).

[@ivanozbolt3582]

This guy's Chinese is so good! I'm gonna work with that video to learn new vocab', thanks to him and Eileen! 谢谢!

[@smitrastogi1233]

Love his positive attitude, great interview. Thank you ! As an Indian, would be great to see an interview of someone from India living in China. Would also be interesting to hear experiences of someone Japanese living in China as well.

[@littleninnie]

Thank you very much for bringing us these quality videos. You're the best, Eileen.❤

[@martincuvelliez5319]

太想感谢你努力地做这么有趣的内容

[@EssencEats]

My favorite interview you’ve done so far. Interesting perspective to hear and I was able to pick up new vocabulary.

[@paulhill7928]

Thanks Ben, you are a rolemodel for us wanting to become proficient in Chinese. I wrote many notes on some sentence structures and new vocabulary. Thanks for sharing your story.

[@Ebenezer456]

Very insightful video. Learnt a lot and was useful Chinese practice.

[@lukefoster6122]

Very impressive this is excellent for those studying Chinese

[@chimaobionyeze2057]

谢谢你Eileen邀请了一位来自美国的黑人，我很期待了😂， I love all your videos 我也希望你邀请来自非洲的

[@Luper1970]

Nice interview. Enjoyed a lot. Does Ben have an KZbin channel?

[@MandarinCorner2]

www.youtube.com/@BenJones1127

[@Luper1970]

Thank you!

[@S_h_a_w_n]

I would like to hear black women experience in china

[@VikaInzalia-u2t]

I think I saw a person of color girl living in china on tiktok, forgot the name tho 😅

[@777B-h3g]

Great interview, very interesting topic as always! I love your channel Eileen! Thanks so much!

[@staccci]

Eileen, you are a star, as always

[@derekeano]

Really enjoyed the video! It was fun to watch

[@brunomoruno]

amazing conversation

[@remi-sshi]

謝謝你老樣子跟我們分享很有趣的故事！🙏👏

[@Mirable103]

After listening to this interview,i feel discouraged to come to china To be sincere 😢😢

[@Furansowakun]

Don’t be. It’s true there are bad aspects but it’s like in every country. The best is to study chinese, to come and see it by yourself :) Remember that in every place, country, there are good people anyway !

[@Mirable103]

@@Furansowakun thanks Am already learning Chinese language am in HSk 2

[@Furansowakun]

@@Mirable103 good job ! Get to HSK3 and already you can talk with people and understand :)

[@adgurl01]

Good job Ben! I learned so much more about you and your experiences. 加油

[@Lilolyglot123]

你的视频十分有趣，感谢，老师。

[@ChesterInChina]

I would love if you interview as well from other Asian countries, or south east Asian countries in China, like the Philippines. Could be interesting as well...So many people from Philippines living in China

[@yqweqwun7390]

never knew that filipinos are also there in China> Compared to your country what do you think about China I mean 1-Freedom of speech 2-Courts(like are they reliable and functional and do small level CCP members have an edge if they are the adversary in a court case) 3-security(walking alone at night) 4-Food quality (like is everything from milk to water fake,or is it healthy. Can you buy milk powder of foreign brands like Nido)

[@StratosFair]

I'm a black person in Hong Kong and my experience has been 99% positive honestly, and yes speaking mandarin and (a little bit of) cantonese definitely helped a lot !

[@vienna517]

特别有意思的对话！谢谢给我们观众分享！

[@outdoorscholar6016]

17:19 funny enough, they *do* have the same requirements or at least that was my experience. I’m engaged to my fiancée from Hunan, but before I could even pop the question we needed to buy an apartment of our own. 4+ years of saving money and trying to collect money from family, that’s was her family’s requirement

[@breadman5048]

damn listening Jones response about the comments wow what an amazing and understanding guy. Also good perspective on not engaging.. just not worth it

[@decreer4567]

One time I was teaching a Chinese classmate English and I was shocked when he told me that he was racist and didn’t do it around me because I wasn’t “fully black”. Then ran into other folks that were really racist from China. It’s a shock because the language barrier hides it well. Although there is a lot of racism there is still optimism with basketball being one of the favorite sports that have major African American representation. People shouldn’t be afraid to talk about this instead of pretending it’s an issue that doesn’t exist. Otherwise it will never get resolved.

[@taranapayiz5510]

谢谢你❤

[@patrykscibak2909]

Eileen just leting you know that something is wrong with audio - only left chamber works, please fix it if it's possible, 非常感谢！

[@MandarinCorner2]

We just tested the audio with headphones and the audio seems fine. Maybe there is something wrong with your headphone?

[@giprepus15]

@@MandarinCorner2 It's only an issue with the intro. The rest of the video is fine

[@MandarinCorner2]

Right. It is only the intro.

[@Liface]

8:42 I was like "I swear I've been to that Whole Foods", sure enough, it's in Pittsburgh!

[@jssmedialangs]

Turn of the AC?! In TEXAS? We would literally die!! 😭😭😭 It's WAAAY too hot in certain areas to go without AC.

[@MargitMargalit]

We are doing it like Chinese - 80°F during day, 76°F at night. It's wasteful to have AC super low when going out and needing to bring Sweaters

[@alimallahgroup]

interesting

[@haivhmoob9133]

I watch and read on 20 Sep 2024

[@JasonEyermann]

In England. We don’t have Aircon in schools or universities.

[@boooringlearning]

nice video

[@derekeano]

His Chinese is pretty darn good! Better than mine haha

[@BenJones1127]

thank you haha

[@abubakarlawanharuna573]

Awesome

[@markuslanggeng]

这是特别有趣的面试。

[@breadman5048]

Haha so cute he said 「你好」當還飛機上

[@breadman5048]

Eilieen.. have a very serious question.. do you also 撒嬌？5%，10%， 30% or more? 😂

[@MikhailGoncharov-tl4cr]

Please tell us story. About love Chinise girl and African man.

[@brunomoruno]

🔥

[@ojingaj30]

Eileen老师！你好！ As always, another incredible and highly informative video! Your hard work is greatly appreciated👏🏽👏🏽 This might be of great interest to you👇🏽 One of China's leading Geneticist, Prof. Jin Li of Fudan University, led a research team of scientists from Shanghai, Russia, India, Brazil and other nations to find out the origin of his people. They took DNA from over 160 ethnic groups across east Asia with over 12,000 samples. The conclusion was that everyone of those ethnic groups have descendants from East Africa. These results support & correspond with a number of highly educated Genetists, Paleontologists, and Anthropologists across the globe. There are numerous articles and a KZbin video about this project. I find it incredibly vague and confusing to identify different groups of human beings as White, Black, Brown, Yellow, etc. There is centuries of evidence in the U.S. of so called "Black" people's skin color ranging from as dark as a Sub-Saharan African to as light as Blonde or Reddish/Ginger-haired European with Hazel or piercing Blue eyes. It would be much more precise to identify groups by their nationality.

[@HabsBurg-sr6hk]

When using headphones I mainly hear from my left side. Anyone else? Other videos are ok

[@derekeano]

for me just the first part with Eileen talking was left side, then the interview was heard in both sides.

[@HabsBurg-sr6hk]

@@derekeano thanks for clarifying :)

[@bingolittle8725]

谢谢mandarin corner还有一个不错的视频这个guest的中文也很好但是他说中国很有自由的时候让我笑。

[@kantnergirl08]

為什麼不說藍色的眼睛呢？你們說碧眼呢？

[@MandarinCorner2]

金发碧眼是一个词组，碧眼的意思其实是绿色的眼睛，中国人一般说白人是金发碧眼，当然不是所有的白人都是金发碧眼。

[@buben911]

Этот парень как будто описал мои отношения с моей бывшей девушкой XD

[@Eddy明川]

请问能不能发给我影子朗读的链接。谢谢

[@MandarinCorner2]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZe2nmOQn9yZmKcsi=qSikSGtotGwZGx4K

[@MandarinCorner2]

你可以在他频道里搜索：Mandarin Corner

[@Eddy明川]

@@MandarinCorner2 谢谢

[@andypierce6593]

Slug lines haha! Very much a DC thing.

[@Christina-ff2of]

I legit laughed when he talked about that haha I'm really curious what part of the DMV he's from because it sounds almost exactly like where I'm from.

[@Mirable103]

I have a question for him oo Please my question is how did him manage to learn Chinese language so well that he can speak it so fluently What did he use Cause am also learning i need more enlightenment Xie xie wo de lao shi

[@aoeu256]

maybe he was shadowing 24/7, tv shows, use google translate some, what other people were saying, etc...

[@Mirable103]

@@aoeu256 ok Can I get an online Chinese tutor??

[@jeanbon6710]

He explains it around the end of the video

[@Mirable103]

@@jeanbon6710 yeah Thanks

[@SVmathfarmer]

黑人在中国! I have been to China many times with my wife who is from Hubei province, we occasionally see 黑人。

[@WheeJones]

What is his name and his social media??

[@MandarinCorner2]

www.youtube.com/@BenJones1127

[@WheeJones]

@@MandarinCorner2 Thank you

[@hazemkhoja2101]

First

[@darrencheung9974]

😂我一个中国人看中文学习采访看的这么来劲是干啥。

[@MandarinCorner2]

中国人也欢迎观看

[@PronunciAction]

There's no "black American", there's not even Americans as the US defines it (so they can eat the entire continent as theirs). Americans are all the ones who live in the Americas, North, Central and South America if you may use this definition. There are black people all over the world. I'm Brazilian, and I'm sure that if you call a black person who was born in Brazil as African-Brazilian, you might get a big fat laugh from them. Change it to: HOW IS IT TO BE BLACK in China?

[@Preciousdiamond-2]

Hahaha 😂u made my day. When you say "African Brazilian. 😅😊

[@TheVenusProjectEnjoyer]

what a goat

[@Delboy_Tokyo]

Determined to feel like a victim everyday, everywhere. Pathetic.

[@RM-xr8lq]

found the incel with a victim complex stick to jordan peterson videos kid, your insecurity over secular history doesn't belong here 😂