The TikTok RedNote: An American Awakening

I’ve been watching an amazing online phenomenon take place this past week. There is nothing else like it in the past, and there will likely never be another one like it in the future on this scale.

And if you’re an American or not from China looking to learn more about Chinese culture, or tap into a huge blue ocean of fans and/or prospects — this is an opportunity like no other.

Let me explain.

It all started in 2024 with the US Government’s order for the social media platform TikTok to be sold to American entities or be banned in America on Jan 19th 2025.

For a bit of context, Facebook was released in the US in 2004, Instagram in 2010, and TikTok in 2018. Facebook took 4 years and 6 months to reach 100 million users, Instagram took 2 years and 6 months, and TikTok took just 9 months.

Currently, Facebook has 3.07 billion monthly active users, Instagram 2 billion, and TikTok 1.69 billion.

Now over 170 million Americans use TikTok, and about 10.2 million are full time creators on TikTok and making money from it.

So TikTok didn’t sell and duly went dark on Jan 18th, just a few hours before the ban was to take effect. But it went back online just 13 hours later. Newly-elected President Trump gave it another 75 days to sell or be totally banned in the US.

But in that 13 hours, millions of Americans flocked to another social media app called “Red Note”, which is a social media platform in China.

(Its name in Mandarin is “Xiaohongshu” which literally means “Little Red Book”.)

Some of those who went over are TikTok creators looking for an alternative way to make their living, and others are just furious that their favourite app is being shut down without their consent.

Red Note is a social media platform serving the China market mainly, although it has users from all over the world. Its users communicate in Mandarin, the official language of China. So it would appear to be quite a challenge for most Americans who don’t speak or understand Mandarin to check it out and stay there.

But it turned out that there are many Chinese on the app who could speak English fluently. They include Chinese citizens who have studied in the US, Canada, UK or Australia and returned to work in their country, and those who have never set foot in those countries but who have learned the language on their own.

And the English-speaking Chinese welcomed the Americans on Red Note with open arms. They quickly put up English content that taught English speakers how to use the Red Note app, what the etiquette is on the app, and what are the common Mandarin terms to use to greet one another and have a basic conversation. Red Note itself quickly put up a Mandarin-English and vice-versa translation capabilities for both Americans and Chinese users to understand each other’s content.

And so far, it appears that many Americans are loving Red Note, and many Chinese are thrilled to be communicating with their American counterparts.

But why are the Chinese extremely happy to make new friends outside of China, and Americans in particular?

The Chinese name for America is “美国” or “Mei Guo”. Literally translated, it means “beautiful nation”. This is due to the Chinese’s tendency to associate foreign nations with Mandarin characters that sound like their English names that also have auspicious or respectful meanings, which is especially useful during initial contact or diplomatic exchanges.

For comparison, here are the other Chinese names for some other countries:

• 英国 (Yīngguó) for Britain: "Heroic nation" (英 means "hero").

• 法国 (Fǎguó) for France: "Lawful nation" (法 means "law").

• 德国 (Déguó) for Germany: "Virtue nation" (德 means "virtue")

• 澳大利亚 (Àodàlìyà) for Australia: Ào means "bay" or "cove,", dà means “big” or “great”, lì means “benefit or profit”, and yà means “Asia”.

If you’re on Red Note, you’ll immediately start to see English videos popping up as the app quickly learns of your preferences as you’re scrolling and shows you more videos like those that you have viewed or interacted with.

As you’re doing this, you will start to learn about Chinese culture. And if you share your life in America, the Chinese will learn about yours.

Once in a while, you may encounter some Americans speaking to the camera to someone in China called “Li Hua”.

This “Li Hua” is a fictional character that students studying English in China assume to write a letter to a penpal in America (who could be named Peter, Paul or Sarah).

“Li Hua” will talk about their hobbies, their favourite shows, and anything else the exam papers specify.

Here’s an example of a letter that “Li Hua” could be writing to their American penpal, as an exercise in English writing, for you to have an idea:

Dear Tom,

My name is Li Hua, and I am a 16-year-old high school student from Beijing, China. I was so excited to hear that you are interested in learning about my country and our culture. I think we can learn a lot from each other and become great friends!

In China, we have many traditional festivals. One of my favourites is the Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year. It is the most important holiday for Chinese people. Families come together, share big meals, and watch the famous Spring Festival Gala on TV. We also give red envelopes with money to children as a symbol of good luck. Have you ever heard of this festival before? I would love to know about your favourite holiday in the United States.

Life at school in China is very busy but rewarding. We usually have classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a long lunch break in between. My favourite subjects are English and history. What are your favourite subjects at school? Do you participate in any clubs or sports? I play basketball with my classmates after school, and it’s so much fun.

I hope we can share more about our daily lives and cultures. Please write back when you have time — I’d love to hear about your family, your hobbies, and what life is like in your city.

Looking forward to your reply!

Best wishes,
Li Hua

Millions of students over the past few decades have written this letter under the “Li Hua” name, each with their own stories, challenges, and dreams.

But while they kept writing and writing over the years, they never got a reply back from the Americans (naturally).

Until Jan 18th, 2025 when American TikTok “refugees”, shut out from the app, went on Red Note in huge numbers.

And finally, the millions of Li Hua’s in China got to see and hear their American penpals replying to them in person!

You could see the joy not only on their faces — but also the Americans’, because the latter have never heard about the “Li Hua” letters until they got on Red Note.

The story from the Americans’ side that they shared on Red Note is that they were taught that if they dug a hole in the ground deep enough, they would eventually reach China on the other side of the globe.

And now, indeed, the US Government has dug that hole for them by banning TikTok, and they have reached China.

I just installed the Red Note app a few days ago. And honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like what I felt when I was on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

Something special is happening in real time as China and America discover each other. Many Americans broke down with either joy or despair seeing how the Chinese live their lives and compared it with their own.

There are Chinese cowboys too. I was scrolling through Red Note when this former film director showed me a glimpse of his life on his ranch in Inner Mongolia. His videos are like works of art, they’re beautifully shot.

If you’re simply curious about Red Note and how it works — check it out. The US Government may ban the America’s access it at some point so this is probably a good incentive for you to see what the fuss is all about and what you can learn about another culture and its people, who are equally as eager to learn about you and your culture.

If you’re a creator, this is a new, huge and exciting blue ocean for your content. China, with a huge population of 1.4 billion people, is truly a new frontier for Americans.

But because of the language barrier, it’s not an easy market for Americans to succeed in without building relationships and gaining trust locally, which requires learning Mandarin.

But Red Note’s automatic translation feature together with an attentive audience welcoming you with open arms solve these problems instantly.

And you’re among the first to know about it.

Stephen Curry is already on Red Note. The Chinese are mad about basketball, so Curry has already racked up hundreds of thousands of followers in just a few days.

Red Note currently has 300 million users and growing every single day. This is also because of the TikTok ban that brought headlines all over the world, including how some of its users went on Red Note as a form of protest, which then made other TikTok users from the other parts of the world take notice and join in.

To download Red Note, simply to go to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and type “RedNote”. It should look something like the following (ensure you match the logo you see on your App/Play Store):

I think you’ll enjoy what you see there.

Cheers!

P.S. I’ll be celebrating the Chinese New Year in a few days. Wishing everyone who celebrates, a great new year of the Snake!

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