Hasan Piker talks about his controversial China trip – and ‘thinking Chinese thoughts’

Hasan Piker knew his first trip to China would provoke backlash. What he did not expect was how quickly the debate would collapse into a binary: propaganda or patriotism.The live-streamer, and one of the most influential political commentators on the left among young Americans, travelled to China last year and live-streamed his experiences to over 3 million followers across platforms, including Twitch and YouTube.Clips of his visit circulated widely, some carried by Chinese state-linked outlets – in one viral video Piker was heard saying “I have no patriotism in my heart”, leading many Western commentators to accuse him of acting as soft power for Beijing.China trip: personal observation or propaganda?When asked directly what his core political motivation was for the trip and how that intention aligned with the way his visit was framed in Chinese state media, Piker rejected the premise that visibility equals endorsement.“My motivation was to show that China isn’t this hermit kingdom the way it’s often presented,” he said in a recent interview with the China-morning-post" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12558" data-entity-type="organization">South China Morning Post. “It’s actually developed tremendously. It’s yielded real prosperity for its citizens.”28:19American streamer Hasan Piker says Chinese social contract outperforms the US’American streamer Hasan Piker says Chinese social contract outperforms the US’Pressed on whether that framing dovetailed uncomfortably with Beijing’s preferred narrative, Piker acknowledged the risk but argued it was unavoidable.