TANJUNG MALIM: A woman from China who is currently studying at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) here caught the attention of netizens after a video of her shedding tears of joy at eating pizza for the very first time in her life went viral on TikTok.
The video gained attention after it was shared by Aizat Zainal Abidin Asri, 26, on TikTok recently.
Aizat who is popularly known as Coach Aizat on TikTok said the video was recorded while he ate with Serena Zhou Yu Zi, 28, who hails from China.
"On that particular day, Serena and I were at the launderette to do laundry. By coincidence I had bought pizza earlier and I asked her to join me and eat.
"At the time, I saw Serena in tears as we ate the pizza, and when I asked her why was she crying, only then did she explain why.
"She said that she shed tears of joy because that was the first time that she ate pizza, she was so happy to finally be able to do so for the first time in her life," he said when he was contacted by Harian Metro recently.
According to Aizat, Serena also told him about her family background which made him better understand where she was coming from.
However, Aizat did not expect so many people to get the wrong impression after the video was uploaded on social media.
"Serena is not from a poor family, but there were those who got the wrong impression by assuming that she comes from a wealthy or privileged background when they noticed that she was using a smartphone from another country in the video.
"While growing up, Serena was not like the rest of us because she came from a family that was very strict and they never ate any western food or cuisine.
"Serena only ate food that was cooked at home and as such she has never tried nor eaten a lot of food while growing up as a young child and as a teenager. She has also never experienced going to a fun fair and the beach. Perhaps this is why she cried, it is not that she is sad but in actual fact she is happy," he said.
Aizat said that he accepts all the comments and feedback, even the ones accusing him of uploading such a video so that it goes 'viral'.
"There are some who did not believe what they saw but it is ok with me. What is important is that I know the truth, what actually happened and Serena is a good friend of mine.
"We got to know each other after she followed my fitness class. At first we became friends before we got closer. It is just that I am studying for Masters in sports coaching while Serena is pursuing a doctorate (PhD) in human resource management," he said.
