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‘What’s wrong with my clothing?’: Locals talk about ‘foreigner’s’ clothing in China—but he speaks fluent Mandarin

‘I can’t believe he speaks Mandarin.’

Photo of Laiken Neumann

Laiken Neumann

market workers with caption 'hey do you guys see that guy's shirt?' (l) same workers with caption 'I can't believe he speaks Mandarin!' (c) man walking out of market stall with caption 'of course, such good taste!' (r)

In a viral TikTok video, locals talk about a white influencers’s clothing in China, but he happens to speak fluent Mandarin. 

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“Hey, do you see that guy’s shirt?” one of the women says, to which the other workers at the market chuckle. 

“What’s wrong with my shirt?” the popular TikToker and YouTuber, Xiaomanyc, chimes in in Mandarin.

“His Chinese is so good. I can’t believe he speaks Mandarin,” the woman says to another woman working at the market.

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@xiaomanyc

Chinese people gossip about foreigner, but he knows Chinese…

♬ original sound – xiaomanyc

She then praises him for his speaking abilities.

“You are so smart! Plus you speak so well!” she says.

The workers assume he must have a Chinese girlfriend, and he tells them his wife is Chinese.

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The TikToker also has a YouTube channel with 4.5 million subscribers where he regularly shares videos of himself surprising native Chinese speakers with his fluency. According to his YouTube channel, he speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese fluently. 

His TikTok received over 5.6 million views, and many users pointed out how friendly the workers became when they learned he spoke fluent Mandarin.

“They laughed cause they got so nervous,” one user said.

“They switched up lmao,” another joked. 

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Others were more interested in his controversial T-shirt.

“i’m curious, what did it say on your clothes that was funny?” one user questioned.

“The t-shirt was bait,” another said.

“I dont think they were rude they just found his T-shirt funny,” a third said.

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Xiaomanyc told the Daily Dot his shirt said “foreigner” in Chinese.

“I actually specifically wore the shirt because I thought it might make people interested in talking to me,” he said.

He emphasized that he “100% [supports] the business” and thinks the workers are “super nice.”

He pointed the Daily Dot to his YouTube video on the incident. “My experiences with them and the other businesses featured in this video were entirely positive,” he added.

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