American face stands out on local screens

In 2008, Matthew Knowles was sad when his sports career at Clemson Tigers Football, his university team, ended due to a knee injury. But a call from Southwest China's Guizhou province became a turning point for the Carolina native.

A friend who was then working as a volunteer English teacher in the mountainous Chinese province invited Knowles to experience an unlikely life: To teach local children in the remote city of Duyun, in southwestern Guizhou.

"I did not have a job. When I was a teenager I always wanted to help others. So, I thought it would be a good idea to go to China despite knowing nothing about the country back then," he says at a Beijing hotel.