happy, excited kids — and make them chant something so demeaning? those questions sent me on a journey to an industry that's exploiting kids across africa. i was shocked by what i heard along the way, but in the end ifound my answers. done i a writer and journalist, and although i now based in london i lived in china for several years, studying chinese and working in beijing. i loved it there but i didn't always feel welcome. as a black woman in a country with a chinese mac tiny black population, i experienced countless incidences of racism; sometimes indirectly but often write in my face. i soon realised i wasn't the only one. see, i wasn't new to racism before china, it's a global problem, but i had never been anywhere that made it quite so difficult to speak out. i felt black people in china needed a space to unpack these experiences, so i decided to take a risk. i created that liberty china, an online space and website to start that conversation. hello and welcome to another episode of the black liberty china podcast. 0ne to another episode of the black liberty china podcast. one of my guests is a ghanaian who has built one of the most popular youtube channels in the whole of africa. she, like me, used to live in china and speaks chinese. in february 2020, he used his platform to make a scolding enunciation of the low iq video. ., ., ., ., iq video. how on earth would ou iq video. how on earth would you allow— iq video. how on earth would you allow foreigners - iq video. how on earth would you allow foreigners to - iq video. how on earth would you allow foreigners to come | you allow foreigners to come into your country to exploit your own people and, at the same time, insult the entire black people of this world? he joined the podcast via zoom. when my friends told me about it and that this was happening, i was very angry as an african. but i speak and understand chinese, so i felt like i was the right person to speak out against it because i had a platform to show the world that these people are africans living in africa.— these people are africans living in africa. what would ou sa living in africa. what would you say to _ living in africa. what would you say to people - living in africa. what would you say to people who - living in africa. what would you say to people who say| living in africa. what would i you say to people who say it's just one video, it doesn't matter, let it go and forget about it?— matter, let it go and forget about it? , , �* ., ., about it? this isn't one video, its millions _ about it? this isn't one video, its millions of— about it? this isn't one video, its millions of videos - about it? this isn't one video, its millions of videos that - its millions of videos that have come out. we need to address this issue to warn the world that this is happening and that it needs to change. he is riuht. and that it needs to change. he is right. this isn'tjust one video. the low iq video is part of the massive industry. in china over the past few years, it's become a thing to send personalised greeting videos via social media and messaging apps. happy birthday, good luck in your exams, congrats on your wedding — these videos typically sell for anything between $10 and 70 us dollars. for some weird reason, videos featuring africans have become especially popular — sometimes it's groups of young musclemen; other times it's women in fancy dress; often it's kids, usually standing around a black board, shouting these greetings in chinese. the content can be innocent enough. you might even think they are cute. but some of them are — well, in this one, for example, the producer gets the kids to promise that they will always stay in africa. in this one, a patriotic song about the glory of china. they are made to think yellow skin and dark eyes are the most beautiful. ——to sing. and quite a few of them, using girls dancing in obviously sexualised ways. teenagers and sometimes, even younger kids. it's important to say not everyone in china thinks this is ok. i asked chinese journalist song for her take. the country itself is very polarised. you have people, the vocal critics, saying the whole thing is wrong. you also have people supporting of the video filming is, and to the customers this is a good business. it's actually helping the local people, demoting the relationship between china and africa but what actually happens behind the curtain is unknown in china. we want to know what's actually happening. despite the debate in china, the industry continues to grow. the most popular videos get millions of use. mcavoy reviews. some are even used by celebrities, like a huge celebrity in china to feature on the big screen as part of stadium concerts. this guy has 56 million followers on a site like twitter. that's the context in which this clip, the low iq video, exist. but despite all of the heat and fury this clip generated at the time, no—one was ever able to figure out who made it. do you know where it was taken? i made it. do you know where it was taken?— made it. do you know where it was taken? i know it was taken in the country _ was taken? i know it was taken in the country in _ was taken? i know it was taken in the country in africa - was taken? i know it was taken in the country in africa but - was taken? i know it was taken in the country in africa but i - in the country in africa but i don't know which country. it in the country in africa but i don't know which country. if we were able _ don't know which country. if we were able to — don't know which country. if we were able to find _ don't know which country. if we were able to find exactly - don't know which country. if we were able to find exactly where the video took place, exactly who took the video... i the video took place, exactly who took the video. . .- the video took place, exactly who took the video... i will be so happy _ who took the video... i will be so happy to — who took the video... i will be so happy to see _ who took the video... i will be so happy to see that, - who took the video... i will be so happy to see that, the - who took the video... i will be so happy to see that, the guy| so happy to see that, the guy is found out, the person who was doing this. i mean, i cannot go to that extreme but if you can do it, but would be amazing. i if you can do it, but would be amazing-— if you can do it, but would be amazinu. . , , amazing. i teamed up with my friend and _ amazing. i teamed up with my friend and colleague _ amazing. i teamed up with my friend and colleague who - friend and colleague who specialises in this kind of forensic digital investigation. we knew that to uncover who made the video, which we called video zero, we had to find out where it was shot. when you see the video, it's very zoomed in. you can see some buildings. some trees. but those were very generic features that you could find in any village across africa. i find in any village across africa. ., find in any village across africa. . . ., , ., africa. i had already found video operations - africa. i had already found video operations of - africa. i had already found video operations of this i africa. i had already found l video operations of this kind running in lots of african countries, one of the first journalists to report on the low iq video had been told by good sources that it was filmed in malawi. we decided to take a closer look. in malawi. we decided to take a closer look-— closer look. you have to stop a minute, closer look. you have to stop a minute. in _ closer look. you have to stop a minute, in malawi _ closer look. you have to stop a minute, in malawi there - closer look. you have to stop a minute, in malawi there were i minute, in malawi there were thousands of villages like this in malawi so we need more clues. in malawi so we need more clues, , ., clues. so we started the painstaking _ clues. so we started the painstaking process - clues. so we started the painstaking process of l painstaking process of downloading and logging hundreds of videos from across chinese social media that featured similar themes that make children holding these plug—ins, holding these blackboards, you know, saying these words they don't understand. we found two videos amongst them that actually tag amongst them that actually tag a location, and that location was an area in the west of the country. this area borders zambia so we thought we've got it. we were then able to do your locate a football pitch that we saw in some of these videos and will be looked around the football pitch, and although it matched the video that we attached to kamwendo, so that was right, we could not find any of the features we saw in video zero actually in the village. in video zero actually in the villa . e. ~ in video zero actually in the villaae. ~ ., ., in video zero actually in the villaae. ~ . ~ ., ., ., village. we went back to all of the video _ village. we went back to all of the video we _ village. we went back to all of the video we had. _ village. we went back to all of the video we had. and - village. we went back to all of the video we had. and then i village. we went back to all of| the video we had. and then we aet the video we had. and then we get another — the video we had. and then we get another breakthrough. - the video we had. and then we get another breakthrough. and thatis get another breakthrough. and that is a sign injust get another breakthrough. and that is a sign in just one of these videos for a company called shabri video —— building solutions. they did not have a massive existence on my but we found a previous employee on facebook and they told us this is in the market.— is in the market. brought us back the _ is in the market. brought us back the capital _ is in the market. brought us back the capital to - is in the market. brought us back the capital to an - is in the market. brought us back the capital to an area l back the capital to an area called njeda.— back the capital to an area called njeda. called n'eda. but there are scores called njeda. but there are scores of — called njeda. but there are scores of videos _ called njeda. but there are scores of videos around - called njeda. but there are| scores of videos around this area and we deep dive into the footage, and one video strikes me in particular and that shows us some sandpitsjust me in particular and that shows us some sandpits just outside of the village. us some sandpits 'ust outside of the village.— of the village. went on the satellite imagery, - of the village. went on the satellite imagery, looked l satellite imagery, looked around njewa and after some time, we found some hits. he then looks — time, we found some hits. he then looks closely at the buildings, the positioning of them, the proximity of the buildings, the trees, the angle. buildings, the trees, the anrle. , , , angle. every building, every tree was — angle. every building, every tree was a _ angle. every building, every tree was a perfect _ angle. every building, every tree was a perfect match . angle. every building, every| tree was a perfect match and we've got it. tree was a perfect match and we've got it— we've got it. this video, the video that — we've got it. this video, the video that seemed - we've got it. this video, the video that seemed to - we've got it. this video, the - video that seemed to epitomise everything that is wrong with this industry was shot right here my name is henry mhango. an investigative reporter based in malawi. i have worked with bbc_ in malawi. i have worked with bbc africa eye exposing human rights _ bbc africa eye exposing human rights abuses corruption and violent— rights abuses corruption and violent crime in my home country _ violent crime in my home country. runako asked me to help— country. runako asked me to help with _ country. runako asked me to help with the investigation. when — help with the investigation. when she showed me the low iq video. _ when she showed me the low iq video. i— when she showed me the low iq video, i was shocked. the children— video, i was shocked. the children shouting demeaning things — children shouting demeaning things. it happened and it was hidden — things. it happened and it was hidden in _ things. it happened and it was hidden in plain sight. amazingly, runako had managed to find _ amazingly, runako had managed to find out exactly where this was — to find out exactly where this was filmed. she sent me the co—ordinates, sol was filmed. she sent me the co—ordinates, so i set off to find — co—ordinates, so i set off to find out _ co—ordinates, so i set off to find out more. co-ordinates, so i set off to find out more.— co-ordinates, so i set off to find out more. the village is perfectly — find out more. the village is perfectly located _ find out more. the village is perfectly located to - find out more. the village is perfectly located to do - perfectly located to do business discreetly. it's locked away in the lowest countryside and connected to the motorway only from dirt roads. i quickly made friends with the local guy and he told me that the video had been filming in the village for years, weaving himself into the fabric of the community. but he was not the only one. other chinese filmmakers had also been spotted in the wider njewa area. the situation was more complex than both runako and i had thought. she made the journey to malawi so we could join forces and get to the bottom of it. i knew where we could start the next day. runako andi runako and i set off to the market to find out what the locals made of the filming. several of them mentioned one man in particular.— man in particular. what is name? — man in particular. what is name? susu. _ man in particular. what is name? susu. the - man in particular. what is name? susu. the said - man in particular. what is l name? susu. the said susu man in particular. what is - name? susu. the said susu was runnina name? susu. the said susu was running some — name? susu. the said susu was running some sort _ name? susu. the said susu was running some sort of class. - name? susu. the said susu was running some sort of class. but| running some sort of class. but the children did not seem to be learning chinese. and there was more. we were told the children had begun attending these so—called chinese classes instead of the regular school. we found it. after receiving a tip off about susu's filming schedule, i arranged for a colleague to go undercover. she posed as a schoolgirl and wore a secret camera. these were the first times we had a chance to see the filmmaker in action and up see the filmmaker in action and up close. this recording was made at 9am on wednesday with the timetable of the nearby school, fulfilling racist fears. this industry. _ fulfilling racist fears. this industry, these _ fulfilling racist fears. this industry, these videos . fulfilling racist fears. this | industry, these videos are taking these kids out of school. , ., ., ., school. they told me one of the reasons why _ school. they told me one of the reasons why the _ school. they told me one of the reasons why the children - reasons why the children preferred susu's classes was that they were getting paid to attend. in this separate recording, we can see the children receiving some notes and arguing about it. i was told that susu was paying them less than half a dollar a day. i have lived in the villagejust day. i have lived in the village just like this. day. i have lived in the villagejust like this. i know the difference that even this small amount can make. i can also understand how some parents who had high hopes that they may offer their children a chance of a better future but i did not understand susu. what was he doing here? why was he using us malawi and for his videos? i wanted to find out more. and runako knew where to start. his online presence seems to suggest he has been here for at least six years. the villagers had a name for the man making the films. i called him susu. it sounded like the chinese word meaning uncle. but is this man, susu, the same man i had been tracking online? and most importantly, is he the man who may be low iq video? i showed henry the findings of my forensic analysis. i'd looked at hundreds of videos posted on chinese social media and noticed at least two different accounts that were regularly posting videos from this village. the content suggested the accounts belonged to the same person. selfies and logs gave us a glint of the possible owner, a man in his 20s. —— glimpse. among the posts, there was a single photo of a national id card. we finally had a name to work with, lu ke. the name lu ke led us to a facebook profile. a profile that had just 14 friends. 0ne that had just 14 friends. one of them was a journalist from sweden. so i called him. the journalist told me he had interviewed lu ke in 2017 as part of a tv news report on chinese traders in malawi. the clip was found not in our village but a town called kumwenda, 100 kilometres away near malawi's border with zambia. i already knew this place. it's the town i had seen in all of lu ke's older videos. the one with the football field. at some point, three or four years ago, he moved from here to the village. i had watched hundreds of these videos, looking for clues to the man's identity. and then, i remembered. in one of these clips, lu ke is talking to a young child and he asked a kid to call him by a nickname. susu. the man henry had found in the village and lu ke, the man i had been tracking online, appeared to be the same guy. this was progress. but we still could not prove he was the man behind the low iq video. we needed to get closer to him, and we knewjust the person to help us. this is paul. a chinese journalist specialised in undercover filming. chinese journalist specialised in undercoverfilming. he in undercover filming. he agreed in undercoverfilming. he agreed to help us find out more about susu. posing as a businessman who wanted to commission some video adverts for his chocolate brand, paul managed to set up a meeting. henry and i watched the footage, excited to find out more about the man we had been tracking for months. paul had to tread carefully so he started with some general questions about susu's video making business. paul asked how many children were involved in the filming. this lucrative chute hadn't happened in the village, susu said. earlier on in the conversation, he let the location slip. as soon as i heard this, i knew he was talking about kamwendo, it was time to pay a visit. kamwendo is a trading post near the zambia border. in this area too, susu had found his way to a remote village. we wanted to talk to the kids he had used as his stars, and to find out if they had shared and the profit that susu had boasted about. henry had been told that he had heard that the kids had been paid up to half a dollar a day. i was keen to speak to the family of one young boy in particular, he was a prolific performer in susu's videos, known across chinese social media as xiao gulah. he was a cute kid, such a natural performer that he became a poster boy for the industry. even now, you can see him giving the thumbs up in adverts for chinese blessing videos. it didn't take long to find xiao gulah and his mum. she invited us inside, out of the rain. the boy's will name is bright. he is now six. do you remember how old you are when you started taking the videos? four. four! and what do you remember about taking the videos? can you tell us anything about susu? what was he like? what was his character, his personality? bright's mother says she also saw susu beating her son. when you witnessed, you know, your child being beaten, how did it make you feel? did you feel like you could do anything to stop it? when you saw that he was in the village and wanted to make videos with bright, what were your expectations or hopes? and, do you know how much money they were making from these videos? al investigation found that in a just one day they were able to film 380 videos right here in the village, and they own it tens of thousands of american dollars. —— earn. i left kamwendo disturbed by how bright had been exploited, but not surprised. i had watched hundreds of videos that susu had filmed in these villages. again and again, he used these kids to create a picture of african poverty, a picture of african poverty, a picture that allows him to be the hero and saviour. paul had told me that susu was kind of a misfit, someone who had come to malawi as a migrant worker and never really acquired any status within his own diaspora community. but, here in at the village, surrounded by african kids, he could be a king. in one video, he even has the children washing his feet. it's a social media performance, in which the kids, real kids like bright are used as poverty porn to elicit sympathy back home in china. as extras to boost his status. and as commodities that can be made to sing and dance for profit. we had learned a lot on our trip to kamwendo but we couldn't be sure that susu was the man behind the low iq video. paul, our undercover operative had met susu for a second time. we sat down to watch the footage, hoping to learn more. this time, paul askedif learn more. this time, paul asked if susu could film adverts for chocolates, featuring a female model. susu said it wouldn't be possible. susu seem to think he could get anyone tojoin, even susu seem to think he could get anyone to join, even the waitress. clement the attitude is, anyone will do. dead drop ——. the suggestion of doing business in malawi. as susu seemed keen to share advice on managing local workers, paul prompted him to keep going. susu had a specific warning about some black people in particular. considering that he was supposedly in malawi to teach chinese, ifound this chinese, i found this particularly chinese, ifound this particularly ironic. but susu wasn't done with his opinions about black people. i feel like i ifeel like i am i feel like i am at a loss for words. i am at a complete loss for words, words. i am at a complete loss forwords, henry. how can words. i am at a complete loss for words, henry. how can he say this so openly? susu's videos are often cruelly patriotic. followers back home i made you think he is helping malawi enter the name of china. in reality, his racism is an insult to the many chinese people who don't share his views. and it's the exact opposite of the image of china seeks to promote in malawi, and across the african continent. chinese officials often refer to african countries as china's friends and equals. a tour around lilongwe showed me how visible china's presence has become. and, just how much money china has spent to support its traumatic rhetoric. the chinese government has sponsored several high—profile projects, including the state—of—the—art stadium. it was built with a $70 million loan. this year is the first 5—star hotel in malawi. this 5—star hotel was funded with an 85 million alone. and this building, the parliament, it was free, a gift from china to malawi. it says, "china aid" right on the building there. had susu gone so far as to make those kids racially insult themselves on camera in the low iq video? it was time to ask susu directly. paul had arranged another meeting. henry and i were anxious to see the footage. paul began by giving susu a prescription for the chocolate ad. —— script. he said, "this is mine. was what he said on—screen, "this was mine." hold on, hold on. he says, and then he says, "no, no, no, this is not me. it was my friend." he said the friend from fujian. he said the friend from fujian. he says it like he led a secret slip. he says it so excitedly and then he says, "no, no, no, it was a friend who took it." he knows it was a controversial thing. why is he getting worried if he isn't the one who did it? despite susu backtracking on the low iq video, his racist videos were therefore all to see. ifelt videos were therefore all to see. i felt the time had videos were therefore all to see. ifelt the time had come to confront him, but i didn't want it tojust to confront him, but i didn't want it to just be my words that he would be hearing. walking around the village near njewa adjuster photograph, henry incredibly had managed to find some children who recognise themselves in the low iq video. we showed them the video and asked them to put themselves out. that's you? i had stared at the videos and leadtimes, wondering what had happened to those children. it was surreal having them in front of me. we sat with one of the fathers and one of the grandmothers to tell them why their children were really being filmed. these videos earned him a quite a bit of money. 0ver these videos earned him a quite a bit of money. over the years, this man has been able to earn millions, just helming children from your village. —— filming. we then revealed that some of the videos had a more sinister tone. if we decide to approach this man, is there a message that you'd like us to give him? this father's message for susu couldn't be clearer. it was time to deliver it. is this him over here? i asked why locals were under the impression he worked for a charitable organisation. basically, he has admitted something, having opinions that weren't kind about black people and malawian people, he said from five years ago, and he denies everything we've seen in the video of him saying. he denies making the b0 we believe he made sir he is not going to admit anything else. i'd spent so long poring over susu's videos, fretting over what was happening behind—the—scenes. now i knew. but as i prepared to leave hannah reid, this discovery felt bittersweet. sweet because together henry and i had exposed one of the worst examples of the racism that we all face on the continent and in the diaspora. better because we both knew that this was bigger than susu. $5 we both knew that this was bigger than susu.— we both knew that this was bigger than susu. as i looked across my — bigger than susu. as i looked across my country, _ bigger than susu. as i looked across my country, i - bigger than susu. as i looked across my country, i thought| across my country, i thought about all the people down there who are still struggling with poverty. many of them assume that foreigners have come to help. susu exploited the good faith. he came to malawi and betrayed our children. we had disru ted betrayed our children. we had disrupted one _ betrayed our children. we had disrupted one operation - betrayed our children. we had disrupted one operation by . betrayed our children. we had | disrupted one operation by one man in one village. but i only had to turn on my phone to see that this industry was going global. somewhere on these up max and website, somewhere on this continent, there were other susu, other bright, other kids being exploited for the profit and attainment of people far, far away. profit and attainment of people far, faraway. —— profit and attainment of people far, far away. —— and attainment. —— and entertainment. hello again. of course, the heatwave is well and truly over and temperatures have been tumbling. a reminder on friday in suffolk�*s santon downham, the hottest day of the year so far, where we had temperatures reach 33 degrees celsius. compare friday afternoon with saturday afternoon, the same location was 19 degrees celsius cooler. yes, grey skies, even a little bit of rain around. and the rain you can see here on the radar picture is actually a cold front, been bringing a bit of thunder at times across the south—west of england and, over the next few hours, that band of rain is gradually going to pull away to the south—east. there'll be some showers across northern scotland with brisk winds pushing them inland but between and betwixt, a lot of dry weather with some clear spells. and for those of you that found last night a bit too warm and stuffy for sleeping, well, these are the kind of temperatures we'll have heading into the first part of sunday morning. quite fresh — 9—12 for most. now, looking to sunday's forecast, that weather front, the cold front, hasn't entirely gone away and it looks like there will be some further bursts of rain across the south of england. the greatest risk is across the south—west but i think there may well also be a risk of seeing some rain at times across central southern england and the south—east as well. away from that feature, a few showers for northern scotland, where it stays quite breezy, the winds gradually easing through the afternoon but otherwise, for many of you, it's a dry day with some warm sunshine. temperatures for many between around 17 and 22 degrees or so. monday sees a ridge of high pressure extending across the bulk of the uk. now, what this will do is it will bring us a fine and settled spell of weather. there'll more sunshine to go around. again, there could be an odd shower flirting with the south, getting pretty close, and certainly to the north—west of scotland. a weatherfront moving in here will bring some thicker cloud come the afternoon and eventually, outbreaks of rain, some slightly cooler air for stornoway with 14 degrees. but for most of you, again, it's a dry day with warm spells ofjune sunshine. temperatures climbing more widely, reaching the low 20s. now, beyond that, we've still got high pressure trying to hold on but these weather fronts never too far away from southern areas of the uk. maybe a few showers from fronts affecting the north as well. but by and large, it's a decent week of weather around. there will be a fair bit of sunshine, and although the heatwave's over, we are expecting that sunshine to be warm. temperatures in cardiff peaking at around 26 midweek. this is bbc news, welcome, if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm rich preston. our top stories: as casualties continue to mount, could ukraine be pressured into making concessions? the mayor of kyiv tells the bbc peace talks can wait. we are ready to talk with russians about some compromises if the last russian soldier left ukraine. this would be the time to talk, but not yet. scorching temperatures in europe. storms and deadly flooding in asia. extreme weather causes chaos around the world. the islamic state group says it carried out a deadly attack on one of the last sikh temples in the afghan capital, kabul. some asylum claimants arriving in the uk may be electronically tagged as part of a new trial. and, could koalas become extinct?