This past week, the trend sweeping China off its feet in the wildest way imaginable, is starting to manifest into something of a romance of two kingdoms.
Some of you might have seen the news of American TikTokers worried about the future of their favourite app, angry at their government and at the same time refusing to support the alternatives by META and other US social media. They decided to seek “refuge” by intentionally downloading a fully Chinese app, 小红书 (XHS / RedNote) to spite their own government.
The first couple of days of this trend seemed a little impulsive and somewhat petty. Memes of Americans rejoining ‘my Chinese spies’ by willingly handing their data to China to spite their own government. Americans struggling to cope with a fully Chinese app with barely any English text. It just seemed ludicrous and unsustainable.
Yet in a matter of days, somehow things just spiraled, not downwards, but upward – into magical dust, a breath of fresh air.
Ni Hao, RedNote!
The Americans realised they were – for the first time – a minority in a foreign place, yet where everything looked somewhat familiar. (TikTok and RedNote’s interface are quite similar). They understood that in order to stay, they needed to oblige by the rules.
These rules were basic, but also somewhat whimsical. Chinese netizens – taken aback themsleves by the flux of “laowais” (老外 casual term for foreigners) flooding their feed – communicated the “ground rules” to the foreigners.
“To remain here, you must observe mutual respect, no discussion about drugs, nudity etc. Oh, and pay the cat tax.” (Read: show us your cat 🐱 .)
Just for context, RedNote is a lifestyle app, where 60% have been Chinese female, and highly educated users. Even for myself, all this while, I had only used the app when I was planning travel itineraries in China. Why? Because XHS gave very detailed China travel routes, and high quality peer-reviewed information.
Perhaps thanks to the women on the app, the first interactions made to Tik Tok refugees were already incredibly warm and hospitable.
“You can stay, but show us your cat. If no cat, then your your dog, or house plant.” The TikTok refugees – obviously amused – were happy to comply.
In a matter of days, word of mouth about RedNote spread and the community of TT refugees grew exponentially. So much so that global mainstream media began covering the phenomenon.
Through word of mouth, everybody wanted to see for themselves what the hype was all about. Overnight, XHS – a fully Chinese app that barely cracked top 5 domestically – is now the number 1 most downloaded app in more than 80 countries.
I meanwhile searched for hints of Chinese being annoyed by the invasion of American users, virtually “colonizing” their favourite online hangout. After all, it does seem like it was becoming a case of taking over someone’s house, and overstaying.
Yet what I found was the opposite.
Millions of Chinese were actively responding to America’s posts, teaching them Chinese slangs (666 = amazing; YYDS = GOAT equivalent), and asking if they could help with the English homework.
Mostly, they were very curious about the way of life of their western counterparts. Those they’d only seen in movies.
An American girl posted a video asking if the Chinese could help her find her long lost schoolmate who returned to China. The only information she could share: “we went to a private catholic school in Iowa. His name was Simon”, and she attached a cropped pic of his face. Simon couldn’t be more ordinary looking. Yet, China’s netizens took to task most enthusiastically. Within 3hours, the netizens located him. Yes, in a sea of 1.4 billion Chinese.
“你要相信中国效率” – you must trust China’s efficiency, one netizen commented. One even joked “tag the Chinese police and you’ll find him in five minutes”.
I believe it!
An unusual bonding over the daily grind: Life
As the days passed, the phenomenon simply flourished, exchanges deepened. The comments flooded, many literally filmed with tears of joy, hearts grew bigger.
The XHS development team clearly recognised where the gaps were. Chinese netizens started sharing that they got wind of RedNote’s teams working day and night to create auto-translation functions for English users. Recruitment agencies meanwhile were already mass recruiting English content reviewers.
Of course, China speed.
Our ordinary lives
I thought I’d share some of the fascinating interactions I found over the past few days. And I found that they were mainly the sharings of everyday life of Americans.
I listened to people who worked for the US Postal Service, Military, an Uber driver, Pharma sales, Plane engineer, Hospice nurse. Some were white, some Hispanic, some black. All incredibly open about their daily lives and struggles.
There were MANY questions asked by Chinese:
- How do you heat your homes?
- How much does corn cost? (common staple for both countries)
- How much do you earn?
- How much is your insurance?
- Why do ambulances cost so much?
- We have 9-9-6. What’s your working schedule like?
- Why do Americans build houses with wood?
Americans, already taken aback by the flood of positive comments, have been completely blown away by what they’re seeing, learning about the Chinese and China as a mammoth country. Harbin, Chengdu, Hangzhou – netizens were proudly sharing their work places, their children, their cooking, their parents.
Post after post – I myself was overwhelmed by videos posted by Americans surprised by the openness of the Chinese.
Perhaps like a whirlwind romance of two strangers learning about each other. For the Chinese, the unusual modesty and humility of their new guests. For the Americans, the warmth and humour of the Chinese.
Interesting reflections from the foreigners as shared in their videos:
- The only negative comment: “Can you speak slower? We dont have auto translation and we cannot follow when you speak.”
- Cat tax solves everything
- China speed is real
- Discovering China looked far more modern than they ever imagined
- Supportive, curious, welcoming
- Feeling for the first time, that their world has extended beyond America, and there are things they could learn from China
Reflections as posted by the Chinese on comments:
- we thought our lives were tough. Turns out we might all have different governments, we are all in the same boat.
- “The Chinese made 99 steps, we are glad US made one step.”
- American English may be not as good as we thought (Americans gave incorrect answers to their English test homework!)
- This (exchange) might all come to an end very soon, so we want to cherish this moment
The last point was particularly poignant for me. It’s as if the Chinese know this was too good to last…
As someone who’s lived in China several times over 20 years, this has truly been the first time I have seen so much interaction between China and the Western world.
I wasn’t the only one who had the same reflection. China’s own influential observers remarked that this has never happened before in its modern history. Never have they remembered a time when the two major economies were informally interacting. And with mutual respect and admiration!
I imagined if this was the feeling when the East Germans must have felt when the Berlin Wall came down, except in this case, it’s as if West Germany came to the East and fell in love with their counterparts they’d never met.
A comment by a Chinese even remarked that it’s the first time they don’t have to 翻墙 (go over the firewall = use VPN) to experience western culture.
For all the promotional dollars China spent on its own tourism and propaganda, just 5 days of community embrace on XHS was all it took to get China the soft power it needs.
Will this romance last?
Looking ahead, I’m not optimistic that such a romance has enough substance to go the distance. But the roots are now in place and Pandora’s box might have slipped open.
Some scenarios that may unfold in the weeks/months ahead:
- Whirlwind romance wears off. Mandarin is after all, incredibly challenging. After the initial high, the refugees find it’s just not their turf, and they retreat to their comfort zone
- XHS understands its business model could fundamentally change, and make significant changes to the app to allow more seamless interaction flow. This is already happening, but Livestream is not permitted yet outside of China.
- Both China and global users have something mutually beneficial: making money from the app. These were after all, TT users who were probably generating income because their lifelines were cut
- TikTok USA is revived, or an alternative app is created (maybe Lemon8?), and refugees flock home. Some might choose to stay on to enjoy the perks of a whole new market.
- China’s government steps in to restrict content flow from the app. This is highly plausible, but several China observers have noted that reviving China’s economy is the G’s number 1 priority. And this trend is in favour of boosting China’s tourism and global standing.
Never thought 2025 could be this promising.
If you’ve read up till here and haven’t checked it out – I’d say go do it. Do download RedNote and witness history in the making.
For all it’s worth, after three long and painful years of Covid, at least we can look back and say we’ve witness a blimp in history when China’s opened itself to the world (or the other way round!). And our generation got to experience both of it. 🥰
Sharing one last comment I came across(below). A standard image of the Forbidden City, known by many outside of China for a terror incident in 1989. The image was shared by a netizen from Hubei province, and further translated by another from Xinjiang province for their foreigners to appreciate. On the plaque of the red wall: 世界人民大团结万岁
See what it translates to:
Little Roots in China 