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Thousands of American TikTok users have flocked to an alternative Chinese social media app in protest at the US government’s ban on TikTok which came into force on 19 January.
The app is xiaohongshu (小红书), which directly translates as “little red book”. Until recently its English brandname was RED, but now that’s changed to RedNote.
Launched in 2013, RedNote is a social media platform which combines user-generated content with e-commerce. It currently has over 300 million monthly active users, primarily based in China, and the international Chinese-speaking community.
The “TikTok refugees” (TikTok难民) joining RedNote could not move to Douyin (抖音), the Chinese version of TikTok, because it requires a Chinese phone number to create an account. ByteDance-owned Lemon8, which was launched for the US market, was also not an option as it was taken offline as part of the ban.
RedNote is one app: the international version allows users in the US to share content and engage directly with users in China through the same platform, offering a novel cross-cultural social experience which TikTok was never able to.
The platform’s algorithm directs more traffic to new users. So some TikTok refugees garnered 5—6,000 likes, and over 20,000 followers in a single day. By 19 January, the hashtag "TikTok Refugee" (TikTok 难民) had amassed 3.3 billion views.
Memes and emojis were used to communicate across the cultural divide. Images of daily life, making visual comparisons of people’s lives in the US and China followed. Paying a "cat tax" (猫税)—sharing pictures of your cute cat or pet to communicate with Chinese users instead of language—also became popular.
RedNote also became a platform for creative academic exchange, as one Chinese user explains:
I saw Chinese students upload their English assignments to RedNote for Americans to complete, with inspired Americans have Chinese users help with their math homework.
Before you knew it, RedNote became a platform for Chinese and Americans to exchange their homework assignments.
我看到中国学生在小红书上传英文作业让美国人做，而大受启发的美国人让中国人帮他们做数学作业。然后很快，小红书上就出现了中美两国人民相互帮做作业的场景了。[4]
Conversations on and about RedNote are rich with context-specific linguistic nuances, posing challenges for language learners.
First, English acronyms are used Chinese, especially when talking about social media. Common English acronyms used RedNote conversations include:
UGC - “user generated content”
Ins - “Instagram”
app - “phone application”
po - “post on social media” (technically not an acronym, which we discussed before here)
Second, Chinese has its own acronyms as short-hand social media slang for common phrases, many of which we have learned before in this newsletter.
xswl - "laughing my head off" (笑死我了)
666 - “awesome” (溜溜溜)
zqsg - "with genuine feelings" (真情实感)
awsl - “I'm dying [with excitement]” (啊我死了)
ssfd - “shivering with fear” (瑟瑟发抖)
Third, completely new words are sometimes invented to describe a phenomenon, like this phrase about TikTok refugees on RedNote:
“The little red sweet potato has turned into a potato”
“小红薯变洋芋”
At first glance, this makes no sense!
It talks about two types of potatoes: “sweet potato” (红薯) and “potato” (洋芋), a colloquial term for the root vegetable.
The wordplay is “little red sweet potato” (小红薯 xiǎo hóng shǔ) sounds almost identical to the Chinese name for RedNote (小红书 xiǎo hóng shū), differing by just one tone, and it’s a popular nickname for the platform. Meanwhile, the colloquial way to say“potato” (洋芋) contains the character 洋, which can also mean “foreign”, as in “foreigner” (洋人).
So, the phrase “Little red sweet potato has turned into a potato” humorously suggests that RedNote, once a distinctly Chinese app, is now evolving into an international social platform increasingly populated by foreign users.
Conversations in China about the phenomenon have turned to whether the unexpected surge in attention could spark RedNote’s international expansion, a goal many Chinese companies are pursuing.
RedNote has already attempted to go global in recent years, launching niche apps like Uniik for fashion and Takib for camping in Japan, Spark in Southeast Asia, and Catalog for the home-sharing market in the U.S. and Europe.
However, none of these platforms gained traction.
Many people also point to the risks for RedNote in both countries: in China, stricter content review and compliance requirements—essentially censorship—pose challenges, while in the U.S., regulators may target the app over privacy, data protection, and national security concerns, potentially even banning it.
So what may have begun as a "flood of unexpected wealth" (泼天的富贵) for RedNote, may turn into its “sword of Damocles” (达摩克利斯之剑)—a looming threat of danger.
The “TikTok refugee” phenomenon on RedNote may be short-lived, but it’s been fun while it lasted, as one commentator puts it:
"This is a historic moment in our lifetime.
Even if it’s short-lived, it’s a privilege to witness it."
这是有生之年见证历史的瞬间，哪怕只是昙花一现，能看到一眼也值了。
So that’s what we’re exploring this week!
🎧 Member Podcast Preview: This week, we dive into the three types of content TikTok refugees are sharing on RedNote. We also go deep on the meaning of 洋, and its unique use in conversations about TikTok refugees on RedNote. It’s amazing! Tune in at the 8-minute mark to learn more!
Favourite Five
1. 奇观 qí guān
marvel, spectacle
这场史上罕见的网络奇观，起因在于美国政府对TikTok的封禁 - This rare online spectacle was triggered by the U.S. government's TikTok ban. [2]
2. 猫税 māo shuì
cat tax
他（她）们在小红书的第一个帖子通常是交一份猫税 - They usually pay the cat tax in their first post on RedNote. [2]
3. 难民 nàn mín
refugee
一群自称是“洋抖难民”的美国用户正在进行大规模赛博迁徙 - A group of American users, who call themselves "TikTok refugees", are taking part in a large-scale cyber migration. [1]
Related:
避难 bì nàn – seek refuge
逃离 táo lí – escape
洋抖 yáng dǒu - "Western Douyin" (slang for TikTok, slightly derogatory)
难民潮 nànmín cháo - influx of refugees
4. 昙花一现 tán huā yí xiàn
a fleeting moment, short-lived
这是有生之年见证历史的瞬间，哪怕只是昙花一现，能看到一眼也值了 - This is a historic moment in our lifetime. Even if it’s short-lived, it’s a privilege to witness it. [4]
More: Read more about the Buddhist roots of this ancient idiom in tomorrow’s Sinica Phrase of the Week.
Related:
转瞬即逝 zhuǎn shùn jí shì – fleeting
5. 用脚投票 yòng jiǎo tóu piào
vote with one's feet
美国网民转战小红书，本质上就是一种用脚投票的行为 - American internet users are essentially voting with their feet as they migrate to RedNote. [2]
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 东大 dōng dà
Big East, China
感觉东大这一回合真是赢麻了 - It feels like China won big this round. [4]
Note: a new encoded term for China to avoid machine-based censorship; the corresponding name for the US is 西大
7. 热潮 rè cháo
wave, craze
美国网友在小红书的这场热潮，到底能够持续多久呢 - How long can this RedNote craze among American users last? [2]
8. 逆反 nì fǎn
defiance
随着TikTok在美禁令生效期临近，美国年轻人的逆反心理被引爆 - As the TikTok ban in the U.S. drew close, young Americans became increasingly defiant. [1]
9. 硬气 yìng qì
firm, unyielding
TikTok也非常硬气地选择硬刚，计划本周日关停美国业务 - TikTok has also decided to stand firm and refused to back down with its plan to shut down its U.S. operations this Sunday. [4]
10. 心仪 xīn yí
admire, ideal
把小红书看作心仪的新住所 - They regard RedNote as their ideal new home. [1]
11. 倾斜 qīng xié
tilt, bias
有一些中文博主对外国人得到流量倾斜和过多关注产生了质疑 - Some Chinese bloggers have questioned the bias and excessive attention given to foreigners. [1]
Three-character phrases
12. 假想敌 jiǎ xiǎng dí
imaginary enemy
政客们通过隔阂塑造想象共同体，也制造假想敌 - By creating division, politicians created an imagined community as well as imaginary enemies. [1]
13. 赢麻了 yíng má le
win big, totally crushed it
