Episode 53 -Serpent ZA

Loving China - Fleeing China - Attacks by Confucius Institutes - China owning Putin

This Week The Pack is joined by Winston Sterzel, (on Twitter @serpentza) also known by his YouTube pseudonym SerpentZA. We talk about his time in China, his need to flee, How China has changed, and the chilling effect they have on free speech in the US. Russia, Ukraine, and Vietnam and how China has its hand in global events.

He lived in Shenzhen in the Guangdong province of China for fourteen years. His videos cover a variety of topics relating to life in China from a Westerner perspective. He moved to China to work as an English teacher after first visiting on business in 2005. In 2015, he was one of twelve South Africans in China profiled by China Radio International. He started uploading videos in China in 2007 and became a full-time vlogger in 2016. His videos primarily focus on life in China as viewed from a Western perspective.

Sterzel has also made videos about motorcycle trips through China. With fellow YouTuber Matthew Tye (who goes by Laowhy86) and other friends, he has taken extended journeys and produced documentary series titled Conquering Southern China and Conquering Northern China. He and Tye operate the YouTube channel ADVChina, a motorcycle travel vlog. Sterzel was also co-founder of a small, China-based custom motorcycle business, Churchill Custom Motorcycles, that is no longer in business. In late 2018, he said he desired to create "positive content" about China, but that a negative interaction with the Chinese police spurred him to move out of China.

In 2019, Sterzel moved to Los Angeles because he felt he would lose his life or be incarcerated in China following threats by ultranationalist Internet users, who accused Sterzel's wife of being a spy and a threat to national security. Sit back have a drink and let's talk about China since we can't go there.