DHGate took me to China

If you’re a traveller, like me, you’ll have written out for yourself (or most likely typed it out in your Notes app) some variation of a”travel wishlist” or bucket list. Now, if you’re type A, also like me, you might even have this list organized by some measure of where these places are. For example, I have yet to travel anywhere inside Europe, but I can give you a full itinerary of the best travel routes, by plane and train, to efficiently get from Barcelona to Milan to Paris to London to Dublin and so on. Maybe your goal is simply hit every continent, and then go to the most famous cities that are close enough by. But one question I want to ask is “Has China made it to your lists?’

When I made my “Asia wishlist”, those countries included Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. Im very easy to please. But for some reason China was never on my personal bucket list, and now that I’ve gone and come back, I wonder why that was. Even with China being home to one of the seven wonders of the world, The Great Wall didn’t seem to compel me to ever take my money and go for a visit. Maybe its because the name has become so common for Americans. “Made in China” is an American staple, ironically enough. Maybe it’s becaue as a Black woman, the reputation of us in China hasn’t been too great. I’m not taking pictures with you or letting you stare at and touch my hair. That’s a no no.

But when DHGate emailed me, inviting me to Shenzhen, China

But one morning, when checking my emails, I received a message from a Canadian casting agency telling me that DHGate wanted me to travel to Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dunhuang, China for the 2026 World Sphere conference and to have an experience on the Silk Road. my mind immediately went to “is this a scam"?’ I had never heard of DHGate, the site where every tiktoker gets their fake Chanel bags, of having influencer trips. But the lure of visiting a new country led me to do a lot of research and once I realized this was a very much real opportunity, I signed the contract and packed my bags!

The email also included the main objective of this trip, besides the content produced on my behalf to promote DHGate. If you know anything about this company, it’s almost like the Chinese Amazon but specifically with Chinese sellers and manufacturers.If you’ve used the site, you know the difficulties of really knowing the quality of what you;re getting. It’s pretty much a shot in the dark when it comes to the product that actually arrives at your doorstep. Even I have had really good and really bad experiences with sellers on DHGate. This was sold as a chance to meet manufactures face to face, touch the products, go behind the scenes at the factories and increase our confidence of who is on the other side of the screen when we are placing ordered of our clothing, tech and beauty businesses.

I’ve been wanting to start my own merch business connected to my podcast for years, so I saw this as the PERFECT opportunity to get a foot in and begin what I’ve been planning. My goal for this trip was to simple: see China for the first time and find my manufacturer.

What is China like, really?

I sincerely had zero expectations for this China trip for several reasons but the foremost reason being I knew that I would be in a controlled environment with Chinese hosts who spoke English and pretty much made my schedule for me. For this reason, I didn’t have much interaction with Chinese locals, barring the one exception when I did venture on my own to a small open mall right next to our hotel and was catcalled by a group of men. I was really not expecting that lol. Overall when I was out in Shenzhen, people really seemed to mind their own business. I really didn’t have much downtime to explore China myself at all, so I feel like I didn’t get that much of an authentic experience. DHGate will need to bring me back very soon for round two.

FOOD

I ate traditional Chinese cuisine the entire trip and even visited a Michelin star rated restaurant on our last day in Guangzhou. The food mainly consisted of broiled chicken , with the head on the plate, some kind of stewed or broiled whole fish, lots of soups and noodles, and of course plenty of fired rice and steamed vegtables. One thing I was aware of when it came to Chinese culture is that they do not believe in eating raw or drinking cold. So no American style salads or iced drinks. Even on the plane there I drank warm apple juice. Overall I would rate the food 6.6/10. I appreciate how healthy everything was and even tho I left every meal feeling satisfied, I never felt very full or like I had just had a GREAT meal. It was just ok, but maybe I’m just too used to soul food.

TECHNOLOGY

I will say, what the say about China living in the future, really is true. Every simple rideshare vehicle I got into looked like an upgraded version of a Tesla. No one had an iPhone but their cameras on their devices looked way more advanced than my 16 pro max. They even have laundry folding robots wearing cowboy hats for your purchase. Because of this domestic advanced technology, I will say I was surprised to see things like smoking being permitted EVERYWHERE and public buildings still using squat toilets. I was told it’s for the productivity of their workforce (no 15 minute bathroom/tiktok scrolling breaks for them) but I can’t vouch to that claim’s validity. All I can say is, it was shocking to see to be honest. I just had to be mindful of when I saw a western toilet, that I should use it because who knows the next time I would see one outside of the hotel, and also to be prepared to constantly smell stale cigarettes.

Why I really went

For years I have been mentally executing designs for what I wanted merchandise for my podcast to look like. T shirts are overdone and what would a girly girl like me be doing wearing a hat? I wanted to make products that I would actually want. Things that I buy in real life, not just a one time purchase of overpriced athletic wear all for the sake of supporting my favorite creator. So when DHGate pitched this trip as a way to really get in touch with quality wholesale manufacturers in China to help make this products in my mind come to life, I was excited to see everything for myself.

A group of about 20 content creators and business owners came together to tour factories, beauty warehouses, technology companies and more. I got to see what Chinese factories really look like and speak to the engineers designing and producing the ingredients and products for some of the world's largest beauty, fragrance and skin care brands. I came for textiles, bags and a few other tokens that I really was not able to see too much of on this trip. I woud have really appreciated a clothing warehouse where we could source wholesale, quality basics or even meet more disgners that could help our creations come to life. I would say that the tours were very interesting and informational but DHGate really dropped that ball on bringing in manufacturers that would have really helped our business, seeing as 90% of us are looking to produce some kind of clothing.

Should you visit China?

Overall this experience really opened my eyes to the possibilities of what I can create as someone looking to become a business owner. The factories were clean and organized, the engineers really talked us through the extensive processes of creating quality products and the range of what I saw as possible has totally increased. I would love the opportunity to visit China again with DHGate and even on my own. If you are someone who is entrepreneurial minded, China is a must see. The factory owners are happy to open their doors and show you around. Shenzhen and Guangzhou are your best bets for beauty, skin care, clothing and tech.

As for me, this was just the first step of broadening my horizons, expanding my possibilities and checking an unexpected coutnry off my travel “to do” list. I will be back very soon and will write all about it.