“It’s the coolest thing,” says Huang Ziyan, a veteran user of the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, describing the experience as a “21st-century Tower of Babel.”
Huang is referring to the influx of American “TikTok refugees” fleeing the impending ban and the resulting cross-cultural exchange that has seen Americans warmly welcomed and sometimes given some helpful advice.
“I was wearing this green hat in one of my videos and some Chinese netizens informed me that in China… it is effectively a symbol to convey that you are a cuckold,” says James Harr, who is among those who will soon receive their first lessons of Chinese language. after switching from TikTok to Xiaohongshu.
Harr says using Xiaohongshu was a form of protest against the U.S. government, but that “it’s been amazing to watch the cultural exchange.”
Users have also been helping each other with homework, with Chinese users posting English homework pages asking for help from their new English-speaking app users. Others have urged American users to add Chinese subtitles to their videos. The app does not have a simple automatic translation feature in any direction.
Then there is the entrance fee that resident users demand from newcomers: photos of cats.
New user ItsNate offered up George Jr, a long, dangling feline, as a tribute, earning 100,000 likes for his efforts. “Paying my cat tax,” said another, offering a photo of their pet, plus a tongue-in-cheek reference to Washington’s security concerns about TikTok. “My Chinese spy hasn’t contacted me yet, so I’m posting my cat because you should know about him.”
TikTok is expected to be shut down in the United States on Sunday, after Chinese-owned company ByteDance was ordered to sell the popular app or ban it over national security concerns. In response, many of its 170 million American users are panicking and seeking freer pastures.
Ironically, many believe they have found them on Xiaohongshu, an app created, owned and used primarily in China, where it is subject to the country’s strict and censorious restrictions. Its Chinese name translates to “little red book,” reminiscent of Chairman Mao’s famous book of quotes, but TikTokkers have nicknamed it RedNote. In a 2019 interview, Xiaohongshu founder and CEO Mao Wenchao said the app’s name was inspired by the color red of his alma mater, Stanford Business School.
Unlike TikTok, which forces Western users to use the international version of its app and keeps its Chinese sister app Douyin separate, Xiaohongshu has one platform for everyone to use, making it easier for users from different countries to come together. online.
Celebrities have also flocked to Xiaohongshu, with British Olympic diver Tom Daley and Canadian rapper bbno$ already posting there. Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk – very popular in China – was already a user with more than 600,000 followers with her lifestyle and fashion content.
The app’s retail features have also attracted content creators like Marcus Robinson, who says the impending ban worried him because it took him a long time to build a following on TikTok for his fashion and clothing brand. But he says he is “growing much faster” in Xiaohongshu.
“They haven’t found a way to censor English”
Some Chinese users warned newcomers to expect things to change. China’s internet authorities maintain strict controls on what can be posted online. When posting links, nudity, profanity, or discussing politically sensitive topics, the content is often automatically removed or the user is banned.
“It’s all a matter of time, depending on the severity of things,” warned Xue Zhao of China’s Zhejiang province. “I feel like they haven’t found a way to censor English material yet, but they’ll catch up soon.”
There are many topics that live in a gray area. For now there are still posts discussing fake news, memes about international espionage, and comparisons of healthcare systems between China and the United States. In China generally, government crackdowns have targeted spaces dedicated to gay people online and in the community. LGBTQ+ related content is visible on Xiaohongshu, but there have been multiple reports of some posts being banned or users warning newcomers not to post openly queer content. Feminists in China have complained that their content has been removed from the platform.
“Platforms are concerned about exposing minors to such content too early, but banning it entirely would not be fair or welcoming to sexual minorities,” Huang says.
A different type of acquisition
While many Chinese Xiaohongshu users welcome the influx of non-Chinese users (Huang says their arrival has “certainly injected a lot of vitality and freshness” into the community), some are worried that the app will lose its identity.
Until now, Xiaohongshu’s user base has been predominantly young and female, but TikTok’s wave of refugees may change that.
Manjiang, a Chinese content creator, says she has found that “99% of people are super friendly,” but she worries about the 1% who enter the space who are not respectful, who “spread stereotypes and sexualize us.”
“We welcome friendly people, but there is also a feeling that English content is taking over,” he says.
Cantonese tutor and content creator Dr. Candise Lin says Xiaohongshu and its community should not have to change to adapt to new users and that many, especially expats, turn to the platform to reconnect with home.
“I hope that XHS remains a Chinese app: you don’t have to speak English just to make Americans feel comfortable. We welcome anyone who is willing to speak our language.”