‘I expected people to be rude’: S’porean says hitchhiking in China changed his perspective
Having initially expected people in China to be “unfriendly and rude”, a Singaporean man said hitchhiking across the country had changed his perspective.
Ng Yi Hui, 27, documented his hitchhiking adventures across Thailand, Japan, and China on social media, with videos of his unconventional travels leaving many netizens intrigued.
On June 10, Ng flew to China and embarked on a week-long hitchhiking journey across the country.
Documenting the adventure in a six-part video series, he shared several hitchhiking experiences with locals. The series went viral, with two of the videos garnering over a million views each.
Speaking to Stomp, Ng said the trip changed his perspective of people from the country, whom he had expected to be “unfriendly and rude” based on how they are often portrayed on social media.
Instead, he said he encountered the exact opposite during his week on the road, thoroughly dismantling those perceptions.
‘Hospitality beyond what I imagined’
Ng told Stomp that he did not expect all Chinese people to be “unfriendly and rude”. However, he said his perception had been shaped by stories from individuals who had travelled to China, as well as viral social media posts that portrayed them in a negative light.
Before embarking on the trip, he said he tried to “withhold judgment”, but admitted he could not completely shake off the impressions that had inevitably formed from what he had seen and heard.
Ng said he flew from Singapore to Hainan Province, before taking a boat to Xuwen Port in Guangdong Province, where he began hitchhiking. From there, he travelled through Zhanjiang, then to Dianbai, Hailing island, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Huizhou before ending his journey in Shantou – he estimated that the total distance travelled was about 1,000km.
Once he began hitchhiking, Ng said even those who turned him down were “extremely friendly”, often apologising for being unable to give him a ride. Some even went the extra mile to ask other drivers if they could take him.
Ng said the first driver who agreed to give him a lift was very willing and even cooked a meal for him.
“It was hospitality beyond what I imagined,” he said.
One encounter that stood out to Ng was with a driver who said he found the hitchhiking challenge meaningful and shared that he, too, valued meeting people organically.
The driver went on to invite Ng to spend the rest of his island holiday with him, booking him a hotel room for the night, inviting him to activities such as jet skiing and parasailing, before driving him to Guangzhou.
‘Some of the kindest strangers I met were Chinese’
Ng said his conversations with truck drivers left a deep impression. Despite the physically demanding nature of their work, he said they still found ways to be content with life.
“Not just that, but the hospitality they extended to me as a stranger while they were facing difficulties of their own really taught me the importance of being kind,” said Ng.
While he acknowledged encountering a few rude people, he noted that such experiences can happen anywhere.
“If anything, they just made every successful ride more satisfying and earned,” he said.
Reflecting on the trip, Ng said the impression he had of Chinese nationals before arriving in China – shaped in part by negative viral posts on social media – was “misrepresentative of the population”.
He said that the trip reinforced his belief that there are more kind and genuine people than many might expect.
“Some of the kindest strangers I’ve met in my life were Chinese,” he said.
Ng concluded by saying that social media can be “superficial”, adding that negative opinions and hateful content often attract the most attention online, which he believes can contribute to misrepresentations.
The 27-year-old said he began hitchhiking last year after completing his Master’s degree course. He hopes to hitchhike across India next, although he remains undecided due to safety concerns.
“I found that it’s an amazing way to connect with people, and have unique and immersive experiences,” said Ng.
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