YouTuber Tips Struggling Chinese Restaurants With $1,000 Each

• Vlogger Arieh Smith went around Manhattan’s Chinatown to hand out $1,000 to struggling restaurants.
• According to Smith, most of these family-run restaurants have been hit hard by the pandemic.
• So far, the video has reached almost 2.8 million views on YouTube.

With many small businesses struggling amid the pandemic, one vlogger decided to take it upon himself to help out by visiting five of his favorite local restaurants and handing out hongbaos (red envelopes) containing $1,000 each.

Arieh Smith, or more popularly known as Xiaomanyc 小马在纽约 on YouTube, went around Chinatown in Manhattan, New York to film the good deed and the heartwarming video has since attracted a lot of positive reactions from netizens.

“I got five thousand dollars, we’re going to be going to five different restaurants, and giving them each a nice little ‘hongbao,’” he said.

During the time of filming, the town was still celebrating Chinese New Year and so it was the perfect opportunity. The Mandarin-speaking vlogger took time not only to order food but chat about how business has been going.

When he started giving them the cash, most of them were shocked and some even tried returning it after seeing the amount.

“How can I accept this, this is just too much?” asked Wendy, owner of Spicy Village. “If you don’t want to accept it for yourself, then give it to your employees,” responded the vlogger, adding “Just keep doing what you’re doing and making great food!”

You can watch the feel-good video here:

As mentioned earlier, netizens reacted positively to the video. For example, one commenter wrote:

“Someone should set up a GoFundMe or something for the first restaurant, she was so selfless and whole. I wish I could donate to her business.”

Another said:

“You can tell the food truck guy is a traditional dad how he hides his emotions. We all know he was crying on the inside.”