The U.S. ban on TikTok, triggered by government concerns over its Chinese ownership, has been a whirlwind of confusing updates for the app's users. The company circled through announcements saying it would be banned, it might not be banned, the Supreme Court might stop the ban, and the Supreme Court upheld the ban. The platform was banned two and a half hours before the January 19 deadline to transfer ownership to U.S. owners, but was reinstated 14 hours later. As of now, it could still be banned two and a half months later. As a result, many users, frustrated by government interference in their beloved social media platforms, decided to take it to Congress to show how little they cared about government concerns about foreign government data mining, and ran straight to Little Red Book.
The Chinese-language social media app, known as RedNote in English, became the most downloaded free app in Apple's App Store a week before the ban, and self-proclaimed "TikTok refugees" began looking for new sources of content. Marketing intelligence app Sensor Tower reports that in the week starting January 8, U.S. mobile downloads increased more than 20 times from the previous week and 30 times from the same period last year. The app, which functions similarly to Pinterest with short, vertical video elements, wasn't even localized into English early last week, with much of the interface still in Mandarin, but by January 15, the company had rolled out an English translation. If the U.S. government says there is a China threat, the answer seems to be to attract more Chinese. Commenters asked Chinese users how to translate English slang like "ho is you magic" and "ate" into Mandarin. Duolingo reports that the app has seen a 216% increase in new Mandarin learners compared to the same time last year.
"With TikTok in danger of being banned, I joined the Chinese app Xiaohongshu instead. They are so fun there, LMAO," one user wrote. “Xiaohongshu’s for you page is much cooler than any other app’s for you page,” said another user.
As users migrated en masse to Xiaohongshu, a wave of change swept the platform, and people on both sides of a decades-long geopolitical cold front began to interact for the first time. From an American perspective, China is a world stuck in time, making the touchstones of its culture and humanity even more ambiguous for many Americans. Women living in China, on the other hand, said they were happy to be humanized as ordinary people rather than stereotyped across the globe.
Kathy Lou, 46, who was born and raised in China, has been using Xiaohongshu for six years. She has used the app in the past to follow bloggers' recommendations for travel destinations, lifestyle tips and trending topics. The app was originally developed as an alternative to Instagram, with its earliest content focused on lifestyle, beauty, and fashion content. But now, her feed is filled with Chinese people explaining their daily lives to Americans, and vice versa.
“I love what’s going on,” she said. "It helps Americans know more about the 'real China', such as the price of groceries, the price of public transportation, the price of hotel robot food delivery, etc. At the same time, it also helps the Chinese know more about the United States - understand American society, culture, and their realities and perspectives.”
Jessica Lee, 23, vlogs to her 27,200 followers on Xiaohongshu. The Shanghai-based creator has been using the app for four years. "Previously, on Little Red Book, many Americans seemed to think that China was backward and outdated, but China is highly developed, high-tech and convenient in different aspects," she said. She feels that surprises are not necessarily equal; they are different. Because she has been watching American content through the lens of mass media and TikTok for years, she is not surprised by the content Americans are now posting on Little Red Book, as she has already seen some of it on TikTok.
Lou Qinjian believes that the propaganda and stereotypes of both sides in history have been short-sighted. While she wasn't entirely surprised by the information Americans shared, she was surprised that the TikTok ban actually inspired people to join Xiaohongshu. Due to the long technological decoupling between the two countries, there has not been much overlap in the history of U.S. and Chinese social platforms, and this interaction is new to both sides.
Some users were shocked by the influx. Isa Feng, 35, said she initially thought comments posted by American users were posted by fake accounts. "I was shocked and thought it was a scam," she told rolling stones. "When it started going viral, I saw more and more U.S. users really flocking to Xiaohongshu as an alternative, which I thought was an interesting development."
Of course, like other social media apps, Xiaohongshu has faced backlash over the years for promoting unrealistic beauty standards, with some calling it "beauty service" on the app, or serving in the beauty army , and fraudulent e-commerce content. But Feng said once she realized it was real, she was excited to get a glimpse of what life in America was like. She said her feed consisted mostly of American Samoyed puppies, whom she "could say hello to."
One of the topics that interests Feng the most is when Chinese and American users start discussing the cost of living in both countries. The conversation centered around Americans being surprised by the ease of transportation, food delivery and groceries in China. One of Feng's next conversations revealed just how expensive health care is in the United States.
“People in China are shocked at how expensive it is to call an ambulance in the United States without health insurance,” she said. "It's breaking down the information cocoon on social media."
Health insurance has been a specific issue of disbelief for many Chinese users, who have expressed surprise at photos of U.S. medical bills charging for skin-to-skin care after birth, or similar costs for cancer drugs that are much higher. Some Chinese commenters were surprised and wondered whether some of the concerns raised by Americans — such as low-paid vacation time, high cost of living and difficulty making ends meet — were exaggerated or posted by bot accounts. In a post shared by American user @Nerdcabinet, Chinese users were asked to share the most surprising thing after talking to Americans. “I suspect the people on Xiaohongshu are all fake Americans,” wrote one commenter in Guangdong. "The message I got from a young age is that the United States has high benefits, high wages, freedom, and comfort. One person can work to support the whole family, and spend most of his vacations traveling."
"Now we find that Americans can endure hardships more than us." Another Zhejiang netizen responded.
The Chinese have widespread national pride in a culture that has long been viewed as evil because of government actions. Feng said that there is still a saying among users: Koreans experience China offline, Americans experience China onlineRecently, it was reported that Shanghai has surpassed Tokyo and become the preferred winter destination for Korean tourists.
Still, many expressed some dissatisfaction with the sudden shift in their feeds. Lee felt the overall quality of the application had declined. “The current push is very much like TikTok,” she said. Chinese users already have the domestic version of TikTok - Douyin - while Xiaohongshu has been positioned as a more lifestyle-focused, Instagram-style platform. There is also a strong culture of sisterhood on the app, as nearly 70% of users are women, mostly young women living in "first-tier" or "second-tier" cities. The default greeting to viewers in the video is even "sisters," which has become an inclusive phrase meaning everyone. But now, those demographics may be changing.
Some changes have been made to accommodate the new audience. All women talked to rolling stones cited a sharp shift toward English-language content on their feeds, as well as an increase in branded content as both creators and brands alike try to capitalize on the glut of new users. "Seventy percent of my information now is in English, and there are a lot of comments in English," Li said. This is in awkward contrast to some content—trends like the new Chinese makeup look or the viral “city walk” fitness trend—that tend to center on Chinese culture and locations. Users like Feng also use Xiaohongshu to gain knowledge about traditional Chinese culture.
While language may not be an issue for these women who are fluent in English, it's not necessarily a common skill in this country. According to a 2012 national survey by the Ministry of Education and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 67% of people with a junior high school degree or above in mainland China have learned a foreign language, and almost all have chosen English, but use English because it is usually very low.
“What’s interesting is that even though they don’t understand Chinese at all, they prefer to use Xiaohongshu instead of Lemon8, Instagram Reels or other American apps,” she said. “It’s really cool how people communicate and learn about different cultures.”
It's unclear what the future holds for TikTok, and as Xiaohongshu grows in popularity, the app could also be banned in the U.S. given government concerns about data mining by foreign governments. After TikTok was restored, some users jokingly said goodbye to "TikTok refugees." Regardless, Lu is excited to experience this kind of cultural exchange on the app. “It’s fascinating to have people from different cultures and backgrounds come together on one platform,” she said. “We are united and have more similarities than differences.”