Video: Thai streamer experiences racism in Brussels

The first encounter: Ppim, an IRL (in real life) travel streamer based in Bangkok, was livestreaming while walking down a Brussels street at night when a group of men approached her and repeated the Chinese greeting “Ni hao.”

“I’m not from China,” she can be heard telling them during her livestream. “You stop saying ni hao, OK? That’s f*cking racist.”

However, rather than apologizing, one of the men presses his hands together in a praying gesture and says “chiring chiring,” while another says, “F*cking racist, you,” causing the group of men to laugh.

As they walk away, another man from the group approaches Ppim again and attempts to put his hand on her shoulder while repeatedly saying “ni hao.” Enraged, Ppim backs away and yells, “Ni hao? F*ck you, I’m not from China, I’m from Thailand, man! You f*cking educate! Not everybody is from China. F*ck you! You f*cking b*tch!”

The second encounter: Around five minutes after the first encounter, Ppim enters the lobby of the hotel she’s staying in and explains what happened to the front desk clerk. Instead of sympathizing with the streamer, the clerk tells her she “looks Chinese” and that she has small eyes. Exasperated, Ppim tells the clerk that his insinuations are racist and also suggests that he educate himself.

The streamer later tweeted about her experience, writing:

In another tweet, Ppim explains that the incident involving the group of men was not the first racist encounter she had that night. She claims that earlier on, another stranger had passed her on a scooter and likewise shouted “ni hao.”

Reactions: Reactions from Twitter users ranged from sympathy to frustration.

“As a Belgian I’m here to say we don’t claim them,” wrote one user.

“Really sucks this happen to her. People need to be more respectful. Crazy how people will tend to try others nowadays,” another user said.

On the other hand, some commenters blamed Ppim for the interaction.

“Could have just said it back and went about the stream. Just had to entertain the viewers though,” wrote one user.