This article focuses on the phenomenon of three rural youngsters who came to Zambia in the context of China-Africa strategic cooperation to produce and disseminate African-themed videos on the platform of Kwai. It is regarded as an “autonomous communication practice” emerging under the background of “grassroots globalization” and “technology empowerment”. The purpose of this article is to understand how this group spreads and displays the image of Africa and expresses racism through media practice. Based on content analysis of the video, online observation of live broadcast practice and related interviews, this article finds that although direct contact with Africa and its grassroots identity have spawned alternative discourse with sympathy and equality in the media practice, its main line of African narrative still cannot stand out of the experience of mediation, which is constrained or copied by mainstream logic. On the one hand, they copied the dual narratives of “spectacle” and “romanticization” in the narratives of the West, and then “objectified”and “othering”Africa. On the other hand, similar to the racist experience of the Chinese middle-class community, they also tried to incorporate it into the glory of nationalism through the “helper narrative” to confirm their place in the global social order. The research in this article further shows that, as a self-representation, due to the influence of “platform” business culture, the communication practice has gradually evolved into profitable activities, leading to alienation of autonomous communication practices. This research helps us reflect on the limitations of technology empowerment for grassroots.