Winston Sterzel

Winston Frederick Sterzel, also known by his YouTube pseudonym SerpentZA, is a South African vlogger and video producer. He has lived in Shenzhen in the Guangdong province of China for 14 years[1] and later moved to Los Angeles in early 2019.[2] His videos cover a variety of topics relating to life in China from a Westerner's perspective.

Winston Sterzel
Sterzel in Shenzhen, July 2017
Personal information
Born (1980-08-17) August 17, 1980
Cape Town, South Africa
NationalitySouth African
OccupationYouTuber
Websiteadvchina.net
YouTube information
Channel
GenreChina Vlogs
Subscribers765,000
Total views126,278,568
Associated acts
  • Matthew Tye
  • ADVChina
Catchphrase(s)
  • "Stay Awesome"
100,000 subscribers 2016
Updated: January 20, 2019 (2019-01-20)

Life and career

Sterzel is of German-British heritage. He was born and grew up in South Africa. He moved to China in his mid-twenties[3][4] to work as an English teacher after first visiting on business in 2005.[5] In 2015, he was one of twelve South Africans in China profiled by China Radio International.[6] He started uploading videos in China in 2007, and became a full-time vlogger in 2016.[7] His videos primarily focus on life in China as viewed from a Westerner's perspective.[3][4][8][9][10] In some of his videos, he interviews people on topics considered controversial by Chinese standards.[7]

Sterzel has also made videos about motorcycle trips through China. With Matthew Tye (who goes by Laowhy86)[11] and other friends, he has taken extended journeys and produced documentary series titled Conquering Southern China[12][13][14] and Conquering Northern China.[14][11] He and Tye operate the YouTube channel ADVChina, a motorcycle travel vlog.[15] Sterzel was also co-founder of a small, China-based custom motorcycle business, Churchill Custom Motorcycles, that is no longer in business.[10] In late 2018, he indicated that a desire to create "positive content" about China and an encounter with Chinese government officials spurred him to move out of China.[16] In 2019, Sterzel moved to Los Angeles because he was afraid of losing his life or being incarcerated in China following threats by ultranationalist Internet users and the government, which accused Sterzel's wife of being a spy and a threat to national security.[17] After moving out of China, in a departure from previous videos' themes, Sterzel began producing YouTube videos that castigated China's government such as a video titled "How China is slowly KILLING us all" that received close to 500,000 views.[11] The South China Morning Post in 2020 called Sterzel and Tye "unapologetic critics of China's authorities".[11]

See also
  • Afu Thomas (Thomas Derksen) - German social media figure in China
  • Raz Gal-Or - Israeli social media figure in China
  • David Gulasi - Australian internet celebrity active in China
  • Amy Lyons - Australian internet celebrity active in China

References
  1. Melody Yao (September 14, 2019). "American Youtubers In China: Q&A With Winston Sterzal And Matthew Tye". US-China Today. Winston: I have lived in China for 14 years, and that is without leaving. I’ve done a few holidays here and there, but not many … And one word to describe my time in China would be “challenge.”
  2. Thomas Brown (Jan 21, 2020). "How China is Influencing YouTubers into Posting State Propaganda: A combination of cash and intimidation is keeping online creators in China compliant, quiet, or kicked out of the country". Medium.com. Laowhy86 lived in China for over ten years, SerpentZA for almost fifteen. They both left China in early 2019.
  3. McGeary, Kevin (2014-06-05). "PRD People: Medical Trainer and Online Celebrity Winston Sterzel". The Nanfang. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  4. Ding, A (9 October 2017). "British YouTuber helps foreigners settle in China". Shenzhen Daily. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  5. "My Chinese Life: Winston Sterzel--The Original China Vlogger" (with video). CRIEnglish. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2018 – via China.com.
  6. Kemp, Yunus (26 August 2015). "South Africans find home away from home in China". Xinhua. Archived from the original on 2018-06-29. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  7. Gidge, Sky (20 December 2016). "Take 5: YouTube Vlogger Winston Sterzel". That's Shenzhen. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  8. Yuanyuan, Wang (8 June 2012). "British-South African telling people 'how China is'". Shenzhen Daily. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  9. Rossman, Sean (4 May 2018). "Chinese are OK with Utah teen's controversial cheongsam prom dress". USA Today. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  10. Roberts, Stephen O. (4 January 2015). "Custom Start-Up: Three Expats and A Two-Wheeled Dream". Here! Dongguan. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  11. "US-China friction turns into YouTube fame (and laughs) for online influencers". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  12. Gidge, Sky (14 January 2016). "Expat's video featured". Shenzhen Daily. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017.
  13. Mullin, Kyle (20 August 2016). "Watch Two Crazy Vloggers Drive 5,000km Across Southern China on Handmade Motorcycles". The Beijinger. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  14. Gidge, Sky (29 March 2017). "YouTube Stars Turn to Kickstarter for China Motorcycle Adventure Series". That's Guangzhou. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  15. Babones, Salvatore. "Western Vloggers Are Making It Big In China | The Zhongguo Institute". Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  16. Everington, Keoni (20 November 2018). "'China's Golden Age is OVER': YouTuber SerpentZA". Taiwan News. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  17. Sjöberg, Alexander (2019-07-28). "'De ville ødelægge os psykisk': Den vilde historie om to vestlige YouTube-stjerner, der forelskede sig i Kina, så deres venner blive anholdt og til sidst måtte stikke af" ['They wanted to destroy us mentally': The wild story of two western YouTube stars who fell in love with China, saw their friends get arrested and had to flee in the end]. Politiken (in Danish). Retrieved 2020-02-18.
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