The Truth About China After Visiting Shanghai and Beijing

I went to China — Shanghai and Beijing — and let me tell you something: America did not prepare me for what I saw. This was not just a vacation. This was a full cultural reset. From the futuristic skyline of Shanghai, to the ancient power of Beijing, to the bullet train experience, the food, the people, the hotels, the streets, the technology, the temples, the Forbidden City, The Bund, Shanghai Tower, Jing’an Temple, Yu Garden, and everything in between — China forced me to look at the world differently.

In this video, I’m breaking down my real travel experience through China from a Black American perspective. Not the media version. Not the fear version. Not the political talking-point version. The real version from somebody who actually walked the streets, talked to people, ate the food, rode the trains, stayed in the hotels, and saw the country up close. Was China perfect? No. Was it different from what America tells us? Absolutely. Was it one of the most eye-opening trips I’ve ever taken? Without question.

This video covers my vacation in Shanghai and Beijing, but it also gets into something deeper: how travel changes your thinking, how propaganda shapes our expectations, and how seeing a country with your own eyes can destroy the lazy stereotypes people repeat from the couch. We’re talking culture, food, safety, transportation, architecture, people, hotels, history, temples, technology, public order, tourism, and the wild difference between what I expected and what I actually experienced. This is China through my eyes.