Two weeks ago Leah Churchill, Peijin Chen, Marissa Fox and Paul Collins made a "Shit Laowai Say" video, revealing the stereotypes of a typical expat’s life in this booming metropolis. The video (which can be seen below) triggered a lot of laughs from the expat community in Shanghai, so we tracked the creators down to find out more about it. Check out our interview with producers Marissa Fox and actor Paul Collins.

How did you come up with the idea?

Marissa: We wanted to make a laowai version of the meme. We thought the meme had run its course (this is after "Shit Nobody Says" came out), but there still wasn't a video mocking the shit laowai say, so we decided to take a crack at it.

Why are you putting down your fellow Expats?

Marissa: Like all of the "Shit Says" videos, the intention is to hold a mirror up to your own subculture, with the intention of poking fun at yourself. I think we all related most to the English teachers and bike-riding/DJ-wannabe hipster stereotypes in the video. I'll admit that there was maybe a week when I first got here when I, too, had some misguided DJ aspirations. Of course, a large portion of the video was also focused on mocking the overly confident businessmen who come to Shanghai, the "Ugly American" trope. I don't think anyone involved with the video would identify with this stereotype. Instead, we were trying to mock how many foreigners here are given a free pass to behave in a casually racist and culturally insensitive manner.

Do you think these stereotypes really exist?

Paul: Yes, because I meet them everyday.

Marissa: I think the video is attempting to mock many Shanghai expat stereotypes across a wide spectrum. They range from the "been there done that" kind of hipster stereotype to the brash corporate executive with the bloated salary to the disillusioned ESL teacher. So, I guess there isn't just one overarching laowai stereotype.

Have you thought about uploading it on Chinese social media like Youku or Tudou? Do you think the Chinese people will get it?

Marissa: We've actually discussed this. I think the video would need to be edited again. Some of the references are just too specific to being an expat here. I also think cross-cultural humor can be a tricky thing. But I think the sections with the botched Chinese language attempts might work.

How many hits has it got so far? What kind of comments or feedback have you got?

Marissa: Currently, we have had 15,000 or so hits. Someone in the Youtube comments section wrote "That silver daddae is sexy as shit... ," which is great. Especially since this person misspelled "daddy."

Paul: Of course people who know us wouldn't tell us "it sucks". We used a very ordinary camera, but it was a fun experience.

Is there anything you think you've missed in the video?

Marissa: Probably. We would probably need to do a full-on anthropological investigation, like in City Shop on a Saturday, to even begin to explore the depth and range of the shit laowais say here. But yeah, we could have included more Pudong taitais. A few extra taitais couldn't hurt.