Xiaohongshu Photo: IC

 
I'm so excited that the world is MK sportschanging and getting a lot smaller. It started with US "TikTok refugees" joining Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media networking and e-commerce platform known in English as RedNote.  

On Xiaohongshu, Chinese netizens have welcomed newcomers like myself with open arms, making us feel at home. On the platform, we're seeing a different world through the Chinese people. It is great to witness people from both countries see how each other lives. We are all the same people just with different cultures. Xiaohongshu has made it possible for many people in the world to view videos, pictures of each other and show our lives. We can also communicate and share life experiences through the platform. This has helped to bring mutual understanding and erase misinformation and misconceptions. 

As an American living in the US, Xiaohongshu means a lot to me. A few years ago, I had no interest and had a negative view of China. However, I was interested in martial art shows and found a Chinese drama that looked like it had what I was interested in. It was called Under the Power starring Ren Jialun and I really liked it. 

After that I wanted to know more about China. This led me to get on X and I found and talked to people who live in China. Over the years I have made several friends in China through conversations, posts, pictures and videos. My misconceptions and negative view have changed. Unfortunately, X is more political and negative and I felt there was something missing. 

Recently, as many Americans were joining Xiaohongshu, I downloaded it but was reluctant to get on it because I felt my presence might be an intrusion. But after one of my followers on X tagged me on their posts, I found that the interactions were positive. The post read, "Guys, isn't this just how the world is supposed to be?" On the post were two pictures with one saying "Hello from America" with a dad holding his child. The second picture said, "Hello, everyone! This is myself and my daughter saying hello to all and look forward to all the new friends we will make across the sea." The comment underneath was " Hello!!!!!" with a picture of a family in China. 

That touched my heart and I reposted on X: "This is making me cry with joy." From there, the post received over 300,000 likes. After that I joined Xiaohongshu. It was not like X. I felt like I could be myself there, relax and connect with people in China with the same interest as me. I haven't been to China yet and would like to know more about the culture, places to visit and learn Chinese. Also, I've been a fan of Ren Jialun for more than two years and wanted to connect with other fans. In my first post I said, "American here. I love China and your culture. I already have friends in China and want to make new friends. I'm also a Ren Jialun fan (Jiaren). I plan on visiting China in a couple of years and I'm trying to learn Chinese." 

I was welcomed right away and people invited me to visit China. Another fan of Ren Jialun wanted to be friends and invited me to join a group chat with other fans. They were welcoming and spoke English with me asking how many years I have been a fan, how many of his shows I have watched. They even invite me to come and see him in person at his events. 

I had another interesting conversation on Xiaohongshu. Some people invited me to China telling me the best places to visit. They gave me their WeChat and then we went on there and continued talking about places in China they had visited. After that I posted more things on Xiaohongshu and the response has been amazing. I'm talking to more people and now I have more followers. After watching several videos, I have seen emotional reactions from people in both the US and China. 

Americans that were misinformed about China have realized how nice China is and friendly the people are. I have watched many Chinese netizens' videos about cats, houses, cars, animals, pandas and cooking. A couple of these videos stood out. These were about "Li Hua." I had no idea the students were practicing English by writing letters to foreign friends. One of them told me that they wrote letters to American pen pals but the Americans didn't responded. Years later Americans have finally seen it. Another said, finally "Li Hua" got his letter back. They said it felt magical, the world is actually complete and we are not alone. This really touched my heart. 

I was asked a question, how can Xiaohongshu promote mutual understanding between America and China? I think it is already doing this. We just need to keep doing what we are doing - posting videos and pictures of ourselves, continuing to be welcoming and friendly to each other, having conversations and sharing stories.

The author is an American living in the state of Wyoming. [email protected]