How My Hong Kong Video Was Stolen
You really never know what’s going to happen once you put content out into the world.
Six months ago, I uploaded a fairly personal video about why I still call Hong Kong home. I filmed it walking along the beach, reflecting on the eight years I lived there, why it shaped me, and why — even after moving on — it still feels like home.
It did reasonably well. Just under 6,000 views. Respectable for a niche channel about international teaching and life in Asia.
Then something unexpected happened.
Another YouTube channel found the video, added a professional Cantonese voiceover, and uploaded it to their own audience.
Within 10 days, that version had reached over 85,000 views.
Eighty-five thousand.
Watching “Myself” Speak Perfect Cantonese
The strangest part?
The voiceover is excellent. Not robotic. Not obviously AI. It sounds like a real person speaking flawless Cantonese over footage of me walking along the beach.
Reading through the comments was surreal.
Some viewers were amazed that a foreigner could speak Cantonese so perfectly.
Others insisted it had to be AI — “No foreigner could speak that well.”
A few patriotic viewers thanked me warmly for loving their city.
Meanwhile, I was sitting at home thinking: That’s not actually me speaking.
It was genuinely funny. I showed my daughter, and she cracked up laughing. Watching yourself apparently become fluent overnight is a strange experience.
The Permission Question
They didn’t ask for permission to use the video.
That’s the part that gives you pause.
As a creator, you do feel a slight sting when your original version gets 6,000 views, and someone else’s repackaged version hits 85,000 in 10 days.
It feels, at least initially, like being leapfrogged by your own work.
But instead of going straight into takedown mode, I paused and asked myself a more useful question:
What is this telling me?
A Signal of Demand
Here’s what it tells me.
There is serious interest in Hong Kong.
Specifically, there is a strong interest in what outsiders — particularly international teachers — think about Hong Kong.
Interestingly, the only other video on my channel that has come anywhere near those kinds of numbers was also Hong Kong-related. It compared Hong Kong and Singapore as destinations for international teachers.
That’s not random.
That’s market feedback.
If a Cantonese voiceover of my reflections can gain 85,000 views in 10 days, that suggests:
Hong Kong remains a deeply emotive topic.
There’s cross-border curiosity about working there.
There’s an appetite for honest foreign perspectives.
As someone building a platform around international teaching in Asia, that’s useful information.
Can You Leverage Something Like This?
I did leave a comment under their video.
I complimented the quality of the voiceover and suggested that perhaps there might be an opportunity to collaborate properly in future.
They’ve liked a couple of my comments. No direct commitment yet. No link back to the original (which would be nice).
But I’ve also noticed something else.
Several viewers asked for an English version so they could share it with English-speaking friends. So I jumped into the comments and linked to my original.
If even a small percentage clicks through, that’s still valuable.
More importantly, it has shifted how I’m thinking about future content.
Should I:
Add Mandarin or Cantonese captions?
Create a specific Hong Kong-focused series?
Speak more directly to cross-border teachers?
Lean into the Hong Kong niche more intentionally?
Given that I’ll soon be living in Shenzhen — directly across the water from Hong Kong — there’s an interesting angle there too.
Protect or Pivot?
There’s always the enforcement route. I could file a claim. I could insist on removal.
But sometimes the smarter move is to ask: Is this a threat, or is it proof?
In this case, I’m leaning towards proof.
Proof that the topic resonates.
Proof that there’s demand.
Proof that Hong Kong still matters to a lot of people.
And perhaps proof that when you create something authentic, it can travel further than you expect — even in ways you didn’t plan.
The Bigger Lesson for Teachers Building Online
If you’re an international teacher building content — whether that’s YouTube, a blog, or a course — this is worth remembering:
Once you publish, you lose full control.
Content can be reshared.
Translated.
Repurposed.
Remixed.
You can either spend your energy trying to clamp down on every instance — or you can treat unexpected traction as data.
For now, I’m choosing to laugh at it.
If someone in Hong Kong eventually stops me in the street and compliments my “excellent Cantonese”, I’ll know exactly where that came from.
The internet works in strange ways.
Sometimes all you can do is observe, learn from it, and keep creating.