The US government says Chinese apps and online activities threaten Americans' security. But US internet users can't get enough of Chinese memes.
In recent weeks, a looming ban on TikTok in the US also saw Americans flock in surprising numbers to another popular Chinese social media app called RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu – which literally translates as Little Red Book. Some three million users in the US signed up to RedNote in the days ahead of a law banning TikTok over national security concerns briefly came into force before President Donald Trump gave it a 75-day reprieve.
These self-proclaimed "TikTok refugees" joined around 300 million active users of Xiaohongshu, who are mainly in China, leading to a burgeoning relationship between Chinese and American citizens as they swapped jokes, memes and even helped each other with their homework.
It comes at a time when tensions between the US and China are especially heightened amid concerns over national security and fears of an impending trade war between the two countries. Yet social media appears to be providing American and Chinese citizens with an opportunity to overcome the "Great Firewall" that typically separates their country's internet activities. But could this collision of two rich but very different meme cultures be more than just a laugh? And can it provide a common ground between people so often separated by the rhetoric of their political leaders?
Certainly, while the migration to RedNote is new, American fascination with Chinese memes is not.
The popularity of Chinese memes reveals how American users are expressing a fascination with China right at the moment when tensions between these two countries, especially in terms of technological dominance, have arguably never been higher. And it is providing the opportunity for some seemingly unlikely interactions that appear to defy the geopolitical narrative.
It is worth noting that while Americans have the right to freedom of expression, Chinese citizens do not enjoy the same levels of free speech and certain phrases or topics are blocked on social media platforms and messaging apps.
According to some American creators who share Chinese content online, the reason it performs well is the same reason any content does well: it's funny, well-made, and feels authentic.
“China is the country we're not supposed to like," explains says Diana R, the creator behind the popular meme account citiesbydiana.. "The government has told us to hate them. But I'm not afraid of them. It's a political statement. They're just like us, and we know they're just like us."
In the wake of the TikTok ban, US and Chinese users on RedNote have joked about spying on one another and what they say are their governments' attempts to keep them apart. "Grand political narratives lose their power at the level of everyday interaction," says Jianqing Chen, an East Asian languages and cultures researcher at Washington University in St Louis. "Personal, direct engagement through social media enables users to see beyond geopolitical tensions to recognise shared human experiences."
Screenshots of conversations apparently between Chinese and American netizens on RedNote reveal how even seemingly banal interactions have provided a source of fascination in both countries. Some have spent time discussing the cost of healthcare or their English homework – with the interactions going viral on X – while Chinese-language songs have trended across the English-speaking parts of TikTok.
Americans have long wondered what lies on the other side of the "Great Firewall", a term that refers to China's strict internet censorship. American engagement with Chinese memes happens in the context of technical divides, legal restrictions placed by the two countries on each other's tech sectors and, Chen says, "the nature of Web 2.0 platforms, which appear open and connected, but actually function as enclosed ecosystems that create invisible barriers between users".
RedNote, which is one of the only major Chinese platforms the government allows to be available overseas, has often been the entry point for Americans into Chinese internet culture. "The netizens on Xiaohongshu create the most incredible content I've ever seen. I've learned how to be more creative from them and they're a huge inspiration," says Rick, an American who posts videos to TikTok under the username Prognoz Pogodi. He declines to reveal his full name, in order to preserve his anonymity online.
Rick first explored RedNote following a recommendation from a friend he met online. He was immediately impressed.
Rick's TikTok videos redubbing content from Xiaohongshu often focus on educational or food-related posts from the Chinese platform, and use literal translations of Mandarin idioms and phrases.
"I am extremely surprised things took off as much as they did and as quickly as they did," Rick says. "I never thought so many people would be into this."
Some of his posts have millions of views and his videos featuring Fiveish, the talking five-dollar bill who reads artificial intelligence-generated translations of stories from Xiaohongshu, have spawned a slew of imitators, including Yapdollar, who mimicked the concept on other platforms.
Like any artform, memes reveal to their viewers what the world looks like through someone else's eyes. And if the affection of American social media users for Chinese memes shows anything, it may be that curiosity remains a fundamental force shaping internet culture, whether you're scrolling through Instagram or X, browsing a news website, or chatting with other netizens on Xiaohongshu.
Source: BBC
Bd-pratidin English/Fariha Nowshin Chinika
