By Rachel Lu

In the days before January 19, netizens in China woke up to find that their once familiar social media app “Xiao Hong Shu” looked very different. Overnight, droves of so-called “Tiktok refugees” flooded the Chinese app in response to the U.S. government’s TikTok ban that briefly took effect. 

In the week ahead of the TikTok ban, Xiao Hong Shu (which literally translates to Little Red Book), or Rednote in English, became the highest-downloaded app in the U.S. According to Reuters, a live stream named “TikTok Refugees” welcomed over 50,000 American and Chinese users, while 700,000 total new users joined Xiao Hong Shu.

The TikTok ban lasted just 19 hours when President Trump gave the app a 75-day reprieve to allow his administration time to look into any security threats posed by TikTok. However, the app has not yet to begun to reappear on app stores, making it unavailable to new users, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

RedNote was certainly not prepared for the sudden international attention. Xiao Hong Shu has an all-Chinese interface and no existing function for translation, its users are mainly young and middle-aged women who are Chinese or part of the diaspora.

Seemingly overnight, the once Chinese language app saw a sea of English. As reported by the BBC, many American users chose another Chinese-owned app to spite the U.S. government for its decision to place restrictions on TikTok. The TikTok ban was sparked by fear that user data would leak to the Chinese government. Switching over to Xiao Hong Shu, another Chinese app, would certainly cause equal concerns for the U.S. government. 

Chinese netizens were quick to point out that Tiktok and Xiao Hong Shu are very different in design and purpose. One Chinese influencer who goes by the name Xu Naonao explained that Xiaohongshu is a platform for people to share practical tips and tricks for everyday life such as makeup tutorials, travel recommendations, life hacks, and cooking. It’s not an alternative to TikTok by design, which is a short-form video platform popularized by its dancing, lip-syncing, and comedic content.

The app also witnessed a wave of unexpected people-to-people exchanges, including many humorous interactions. Some Chinese netizens sought out help for English homework, and in exchange for being on their app, they requested foreigners to post pictures of pets as “taxation.”

Chinese influencers who used to never include English subtitles in their videos started posting English-only content with the introduction: “Hi TikTok Refugees!” Many posted tutorials for foreigners to navigate the app, teaching Chinese slang commonly used by Gen-Zers who frequent the space. 

“You guys are so lucky because Xiao Hong Shu is the best place in the world. As you know this is a Chinese platform so you guys have to learn some Chinese,” the model and influencer Guan Ziwen posted on her Xiao Hong Shu, “If you want to say ‘yes,’ you can say ‘yesmola!’” 

Xiao Hong Shu is also a fertile ground for an immersive language learning environment. Some Chinese Americans, particularly those some generations removed, polished up their Mandarin skills to post videos to the app.

Asian American comedian Jimmy O. Yang, who was born in Hong Kong with parents from Shanghai, opened his own Xiao Hong Shu account. In his first post, O. Yang introduced himself in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and the Shanghai dialect. 

“I know my Mandarin isn’t very good, but it should be better than other American friends, so I think I can teach them some Mandarin, some Cantonese, and some Shanghai-nese as well,” O. Yang said, addressing Chinese fans on the app in a multilingual video. “I can also speak some English, maybe I teach you guys a little bit of English.”

Through these interactions, the barriers between Chinese and English internet users seemed to collapse. Lynn Chai, a 24-year-old long-time Xiao Hong Shu user, said she welcomed Americans onto the app as it was a chance for them to see China beyond its geopolitics. 

“There are so many good things in China that people don’t know. Xiao Hong Shu is a very genuine platform, people are posting about their daily lives for themselves. So, it made me feel like people around the world are actually connecting with each other,” Chai told AsAmNews.

Meanwhile, the phenomenon has also sparked much debate on the app itself. Some users stood out against using the term “TikTok Refugee” for its insensitivity. 

“Refugee refers to people who in real life are displaced by wars, disruption, and disaster. It’s not very accurate when referred to a voluntary migration on social media,” one Chinese user said in his video.

Others pointed out culturally disrespectful or exoticizing behavior from newcomers adopting this app. In a video that garnered over 10,000 likes on Xiao Hong Shu, influencer En-li, a self-acclaimed philosopher and sociologist, expressed his concern that newcomers are taking over the app without recognizing its full cultural value.

“Foreigners are scouring through this app right now, and they’re foreigners from countries that kind of found their ground on sinophobia,” En-li said in the video. “Xiaohongshu is an app designated for Chinese speaking users, it’s interface, it’s aesthetics, it’s very central around Chinese social media aesthetics.”

For Chai, using Chinese is an important sign of respect toward the existing community on Xiao Hong Shu. She cautions against those who are merely joining Xiao Hong Shu to capitalize on the fad with no intention of tailoring their content to Chinese netizens.

AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.

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