Maranhão says he was mistaken for Chinese by an immigration agent in China A Maranhão man went viral on social media after saying he was mistaken for a Chinese citizen by an immigration agent, last Wednesday (5), during a trip through Asia. Rony Degard do Nascimento, 34, was passing through immigration control between mainland China and Hong Kong when the official became suspicious of his nationality. In the video published on social media, Rony said that the agent compared his face several times with the photo on his Brazilian passport before asking if he was Chinese (watch above). “He asked the second time: ‘Aren’t you Chinese?’ I said: ‘No’. Then he looked at my passport, it said Pindaré-Mirim. That saved me.” ? Pindaré-Mirim, Rony's hometown, is 257 km from the capital São Luís and has 31,429 inhabitants, according to the 2022 Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The first inhabitants of the region were Guajajara indigenous people. According to the man from Maranhão, the situation only began to be clarified when the agent found the name of the city on his passport. He believes that the city's unusual name helped the official confirm the information. "He said, like: 'Is this your city?'. I said: 'Yes, Pindaré-Mirim'. Then I had to say: 'I'm from the Amazon'. I always do this gesture, which is to show that I'm from the Amazon." Maranhão is mistaken for Chinese during immigration passage Reproduction/Social Media Agent checked passport several times To g1, Rony said that the agent continued to have doubts even after he said he was Brazilian. According to the traveler, the employee checked the pages and stamps of the passport before asking about the city indicated on the document. "Then he looked again, typed, typed, stopped. I started to get a little nervous, because it's immigration. He looked at my face, that took a while." Maranhão is mistaken for Chinese during immigration passage Reproduction/Social Networks Upon noticing the agent's doubt, Rony spoke about his origin and associated the confusion with his own physical features. He claimed to have indigenous ancestry and said that his family is from Maranhão. “And I keep smiling, so sometimes I have to explain, make a gesture on my face, say I'm from Amazônia, because it's like I'm saying, look at my face, I'm from the Amazon, I'm of Indian descent, my family is from Monção and my father is from Nina Rodrigues, so we're from the Baixada region, from Itapecuru”, he said. The traveler said that a similar situation had already happened in Türkiye, when an immigration agent also expressed surprise upon learning that he was Brazilian. Life of digital nomads Rony travels with his wife, Bruna Brancher. The two are digital nomads and maintain the travel channel “Por Onde Indo”, on YouTube, with almost 400 thousand subscribers. According to him, the first videos were recorded in Maranhão, before the couple started traveling to other countries. “The history of the channel actually began in São Luís. Today we have almost 400 thousand subscribers but the first videos were in Maranhão… My wife is from Paraná, but she is in love with São Luís and already considers herself from Maranhão.” Rony and Bruna have a travel channel with almost 400 thousand subscribers Reproduction/Social Networks The couple spends time in China. According to Rony, the trip was planned for three years, and the two intend to stay in the country for around two months. The two maintain their residence in Joinville, Santa Catarina. Rony often returns to Pindaré-Mirim to visit family, and the two also spend time in São Luís.