The uncertainty of TikTok’s future is causing people to search for solutions for where to go next. While many are looking to Instagram’s Reels or YouTube’s Shorts, downloading all of their old videos to reshare on new applications and sites, a surprise new contender has found its way to Americans: the China-based social media app Xiaohongshu, called RedNote in English.
Chinese users of RedNote have welcomed the American user base with open arms—and a request for them to help with their English homework.
What is RedNote, aka Xiaohongshu?
RedNote, or Xiaohongshu (“Little Red Book” in English, which is a reference to Mao Tse-Tung’s speeches and writings), is a Chinese app that wasn’t available in English until shortly after ‘TikTok refugees,’ as they call themselves, started making accounts. Xiaohongshu was founded in 2013 in China originally as a shopping platform, according to Forbes.
“It’s not exactly a TikTok clone—RedNote is often thought of as the Chinese equivalent of Instagram, with some comparing the layout of the app to Pinterest,” Forbes writes. “RedNote saw its Chinese-based userbase spike during the pandemic, mirroring the trajectory of TikTok in the US. The app’s growth led to a focus on short-form video and streaming, marking RedNote as a TikTok alternative.”
Since TikTok ‘refugees’ have begun flocking to RedNote, it jumped to the number one most downloaded free app in the Apple App Store as of Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. Many people are joking that if the United States government is worried about Chinese government surveillance, they may as well go to the source.
Chinese RedNote users share this sense of humor and have written things like, “welcome. we’ve been waiting for you so we can continue our job as a Chinese spy. I thought I lost you guys. enjoy rednote!”
Chinese RedNote users are asking Americans for homework help
Self-described Internet personality Gina Darling (@MissGinaDarling), who joined the exodus to RedNote, posted screenshots from the app saying, “The Chinese people on Xiaohongshu are now asking Americans for help with their English homework LMAOOOO”
The screenshots show students on Rednote taking photos of their homework sheets and asking things like, “Hey my homie. Could u help me do my homework?” with American users of the app happily complying.
The problem with crowdsourcing your homework answers is, of course, that you don’t know if the person giving you the answers is correct or not, as one person on X noted, saying, “TikTok refugees on red note are starting to help Chinese people with their English homework — but they’re giving incorrect answers 😭”
“I can’t believe some of you guys are helping Chinese netizens with their English hw on red note and getting it wrong like why are you showing off our nations disability like that,” one woman said in her text overlay.
Another person who joined RedNote shared that they were called ‘English learning materials’ by an existing RedNote user.
“American TikTok users moving to the Chinese language app RedNote and collectively helping Chinese teenagers with their English homework was not on my 2025 bingo card,” wrote @keyasaurus.bsky.social on BlueSky.
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