I am an Asian female who speaks Mandarin and don’t live in China. I think if you have the interest to learn mandarin, you should definitely pursue it. It’s not an easy language to pick up. If you’re able to speak, I can only imagine it would benefit you in the long run. It is one of the most spoken languages in the world and the Chinese economy is booming. It’s your choice whether to join the society or not, as long as you found someone to practice your mandarin, it does not really matter. I think people will be quite impressed if you speak it and if you’re applying jobs next time in an international company, learning mandarin is a bonus.
As for the yellow fever things, I used to watch wongfu production, an American youtuber, really he is just exaggerating. I have never dated an Asian myself and I don’t think yellow fever is really a thing people laugh about. LOL I live in the UK, no one really talks about it. Hmm I don’t think Asian guys hate being approached by non Asian. When I say Asian here I mean oriental. They are just quite shy and not knowing what to do IMO, but they are really nice. They always go out of their ways to do things for you.