What It’s Like To … Be a South African Singer in China

Asian music culture has made waves across the continent over the last few years — from K-pop-loving Kenyans to Nigerian creatives putting their own spin on K-dramas to a Ghanaian artist introducing China to Afrobeats through dance. 

One African woman is doing her part to ensure it’s a mutual exchange of culture. Award-winning South African singer Moe, born Motswedi Modiba in Pretoria, is leaving her footprints in South Africa, the US, and China. 

Moe started learning Mandarin at age six after her parents decided to study world economies and future global superpowers. The Modiba family as a whole was also blessed with musical talent, or, as she puts it, “In my family, if you can't sing, then something is wrong with you,” and so her professional singing and touring career began at age nine.

The singer was introduced to a Chinese talent competition while attending an International Chinese school, and upon winning the South African leg, was taken to China to compete, where she and her cohort made history as the first Africans to finish third. 

Moe continued to travel to China to perform while completing her bachelor’s degree at Johannesburg’s Wits University, and received a call to compete in China’s edition of the globally successful singing competition The Voice of China while pursuing her master’s degree in music in New York City. Her performance on Sing! China attracted the attention of Wang Leeholm — dubbed by CNN to be “King of Chinese Pop” — and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Moe shares her journey with OkayAfrica, reflecting on how language set her up to rock the unfathomably large and closed-off Chinese market and audience, and what it’s like to tour with one of the country’s biggest stars.

Moe: After visiting China for the first time and seeing people’s reactions to me, it made me think, ‘There’s something here. They’ve never seen this before, they’re absolutely shocked at the concept of me.’

I got a scholarship after completing high school, and went to study in China for six months. When I got back to South Africa, a friend encouraged me to create an account on Douyin (抖音) (Chinese TikTok), and I figured I’d be the only Black person on this thing, so why not? 

I started posting videos of myself singing Mandarin songs I’d learned over the years, and instantly they went viral. Within two weeks, I had a video that hit 10 million views, and it just kept growing. My videos were getting 30 to 40 million views at that point. Within three months of being on Douyin, I started getting invited to sing on different shows in China. 

In April 2023, I got a message from Sing! China and totally believed it was a prank. After verifying that it was in fact real, I jetted off to China within a month and a half. It all happened so quickly. It was super exciting and scary.

Sing! China dominates ratings and regularly draws the attention of 30% of the country’s 1.4 billion-strong population. Going into it, I knew there had never been a Black African woman on any stage at this level in China. It’s not just me representing myself — I'm representing South Africa, I'm representing Black people because there are running stereotypes about what we're like. And the weight of that responsibility was a lot.

Once my audition aired, it was huge. CNN, BBC, all of these big publications covered it. I was conducting interviews all over South Africa, and so many people supported me. Companies back home wanted to sponsor me. I became a global ambassador for Brand South Africa. But then, unfortunately, as we were about to shoot the second round, a scandal broke out about the show, and everything shut down. The show is so big that they needed to conduct investigations, and it ended. Just like that. But, to be honest, I think I got what I wanted out of it.

I returned to NYC to complete my master’s degree, and right after graduation, I went on tour with Hans Zimmer and Lebo M for a few months. After that, I heard from Wang Leeholm. Someone in his circle had seen me singing on Sing! China, they shared it with him, and he loved it. He asked me to go on tour with him as a special guest for a year, and I said yes right away. Because the Chinese market is pretty closed off, people outside don’t really know how big Chinese celebrities are — Leeholm is like the Chinese Michael Jackson. 

Over the last year of touring China, we performed in 19 cities, reaching over 700,000 people. It’s been an unbelievable experience. I think the market is really open to me in a divine way, and I'm very grateful for it.

One thing I’ve realized about China is that I personally have felt more of a lack of understanding than blatant racism. I came into the market knowing that I'm different. I came into the market understanding that my differences make me stand out. Based on my social media and interactions with people.

For many, when you go online, and you see a Black person in China, you'll see a lot of people grabbing you, taking pictures of you, touching your hair. And the reality is, again, because it's a closed market, a lot of Chinese people have never seen or experienced Black people. 

There are existing stereotypes because it's the internet, you know, there are people that will say what they say, but my experience as an artist has been a lot of appreciation, fascination. A lot of them also say that I can sing because I'm Black. They assume that every Black person is super talented. It's a very persistent stereotype, and I don't know where they get it from, but there is that. So, I've just made a conscious decision not to take the negative. Are there racist people? 

Yes, definitely. Are there people who make assumptions and pre-judge me? Yes, 100%. But I've actually used that to my advantage. The fascination with me has opened doors for me that a regular Chinese person could spend years trying to get through. 

The fact that I'm on that stage, getting the level of attention I'm getting, is because I'm a Black girl, but I think speaking Mandarin is what's opening doors. The important part of this kind of cultural integration is appreciating the cultures on both sides. I'm not Chinese and never will be, but it's a kind of cultural exchange: I partake in your culture by speaking your language and singing your music; you partake in my culture by learning the songs that I'm teaching you, learning the little bit of Sepedi that I'm teaching you, and allowing me space to be myself as Motswedi Modiba on this platform.

I live in the U.S., and my lifestyle here is much different than my life in China, but there’s an awesome South African community there. I have a good relationship with the consulate in Shanghai, and I always work to keep myself plugged into those spaces, because again, I'm not there to be Chinese. My responsibility, I think, is to bring African excellence to the highest level it can possibly reach and to break into spaces we typically have not been able to enter before.

Being the first at this level to do it, I understand that representation is extremely important, so I show up in my beads, traditional wear, and face art because I think it's important to stay as African as possible. I'm showing you what we're like, experiencing what you are like, and I've realized that people really appreciate it. But, even in the US. I taught Peter Collins, who's American, how to sing in Xhosa. I give a little bit, I take a little bit.

The Chinese music industry has been the hardest but most rewarding to engage with because when you’re the first person to do something, you’re breaking down walls that have existed, even if they didn’t know they had put them up. There have been spaces where the sentiment is, “Are we allowing a Black girl to be here?”, so they don’t even know what the protocol is, especially because of how culture is deeply embedded even in the business practice. It’s not just a business. They ensure you respect and understand their culture and cultural practices, and if you step out of line, you’re out. I’ve had to learn a lot of unspoken or not-so-obvious rules, and thankfully, I have a team in China who has helped me navigate the industry. For example, if you’re invited to a high-profile event and you gift the host with a clock, in Chinese culture, that means you want them to die. That will close doors. 

The interest in me is palpable. It’s bubbling. I’m releasing a new Xhosa single, “Lakutshoni'langa,” worldwide because I’m not limiting myself to one region. But I can do multiple things.

For now, I’m back in New York City for a few months, and later this year I will be joining Leeholm in a few U.S. cities, and then Korea and Australia. I'm at the point where I want to do my own thing now. People might say it's a risk to not tour with him full-time, but I think it's my time. It's so easy to get caught up in these circuits, just touring and touring. I had a few performances at Lincoln Center, and I'm just working on my own thing. I’m an independent artist, too, so I’m trying to figure it out for myself because I'm really learning the game. I only have three singles out, one won an award, but still. Record labels have shown interest in signing me, but I have to release more music, and that’s what I’m working on doing now. We’ll see.