A wholesome TikTok is showing the very best aspects of clashing cultures.
Uploaded by user livinglavidaloca100, who calls himself Derrick the TikToker, the all-too-short clip shows a Chinese taxi driver reacting to a towering westerner.
The tall Caucasian man is already grinning and giggling when the video begins. He and the taxi driver meet at the entrance to what appears to be a convenience store. The taxi driver, apparently taken aback by his impressive height, walks over and measures the top of his head against the other man.
He barely comes up to his shoulder.
The duo giggles and glances over at the camera before the Caucasian man swoops in and scoops up the taxi driver. In moments, the Chinese man is balanced on his new, giant friend’s back. Both men cackle in delight as the tall white man takes a few short steps and then returns his passenger to the ground.
The video ends soon after, with both men still emitting bursts of delighted laughter. It is a charming and wholesome 12 seconds that viewers couldn’t get enough of.
“The universal language is laughter,” a TikTok user commented on the video. “[It’s] the little giggling for me,” another added. “You can tell he’s gonna tell that story for the rest of his life.”
People on Reddit, where the video was reposted, agreed. “It sounded like pure joy,” user dumpsterfireofalife wrote.
“This is humanity at its finest and it made me smile,” user dukesinatra agreed. “If only all of life could be this simple and innocent.”
A separate video uploaded by Derrick the TikToker may have the same Chinese taxi driver in it. The similarly wholesome, but thankfully less brief, video, shows a white man—presumably Derrick—walking with a Chinese man.
“So where are we going,” Derrick asks the clearly uncomprehending man. Despite the language barrier, the man immediately starts to laugh when he realizes the camera is on him. He hits the camera with a big grin and a thumbs up, along with an enthusiastic “good, my friend.”
Neither party appears to understand the other at all, but they continue to limp through a playful conversation. Midway through, the giant white man from the first video joins them, big grin plastered over his face.
The videos are brief and heartwarming, and apparently exactly what viewers needed. It prompted many westerners to discuss previous visits to China, where most say they were welcomed with a similar level of joy and awe.
We reached out to Derrick the TikToker, but he didn’t respond before publishing time.
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