Entering ChinaA large number of American netizens have settled in Xiaohongshu, forming a very unexpected and unique scene of China’s opening up to the outside world. The next “accident” within our society is that online speakers who are usually labeled as “leftist” and “xenophobic” all support Xiaohongshu’s acceptance of American netizens; A considerable number of those who are usually labeled as “liberals” and “flatterers” have expressed all kinds of misgivings and misperceptions.
▲ Chinese and American netizens who “reconciled” on Xiaohongshu.
One of the main reasons for the two opinions is that after Chinese and American netizens directly face each other, the thing that has done the most and attracted the attention of the general public is the “big reconciliation”. It is no wonder that people from different countries, and even people from different regions, get together, and what they are most interested in and ask each other the most is how much money ordinary people earn, what are the prices, and what is the level of quality of life. When we ask this question in life, sometimes we have scruples and worry about being impolite, but when it comes to the Internet, Chinese and American netizens have completely let go, and one account after another is quickly compared on Xiaohongshu.
There is no “guidance” in this, although there are a lot of situations that come out, and there will be different feelings from different perspectives, but on the whole, American netizens are far more surprised by the good side of China than Chinese netizens are surprised by the “superior life of Americans”. Many American netizens complained that they needed to work two jobs to make ends meet, and it was very expensive to see a doctor, such as calling an ambulance and finding that they owed $3,000 to the hospital, $2,000 to see an emergency room for stomach problems, and more than $90,000 for two months of treatment in the hospital. These greatly supplement and correct the impression that many Chinese netizens used to have that “Americans live many times better than Chinese”.
▲ “Reconciliation” site.
I’ve been to the U.S. many times, and I’ve traveled to many developed countries, and importantly, I’ve gotten into a number of home interviews in each country. One of my repeated impressions is that the average standard of living in the United States is indeed higher than that in China, but Americans save less money, and most of the money they earn has to pay various expenses in the month, and their feelings of financial constraints are often higher than that of ordinary Chinese families. In most normal years, China’s middle class and most urban households have their own advantages compared to those of American families, and many Chinese families may even feel more financially comfortable, especially when it comes to food. A typical example is that many Chinese university graduates immigrated to the United States in the eighties and nineties of the last century, including those who immigrated to the United States at the beginning of this century.
The United States, on the other hand, is the number one developed country and is often regarded as a “beacon” in all aspects, and its various loopholes in people’s livelihood are easily diluted and covered up in ideology. Therefore, with such a “reconciliation” on the Internet, the re-scoring of the two sides will definitely be tilted towards the Chinese side. The “patriots” on the Internet will naturally like the new Xiaohongshu and call it “enjoyable”.
In fact, ideology always occupies an important position in the national game, but the people of all countries are most concerned about people’s livelihood, clothing, food, housing and transportation, and their lives. Xiaohongshu was originally a platform for the exchange of life and fashion experience, and Chinese and American netizens got together to face to face, and the most popular topic was naturally life. The people of the two countries have brought together the fragments of information around them, and have realized a people-to-people direct exchange that has never been seen between the East and the West. It has a huge sample size, strong credibility, and fun, which increases the sense of closeness to each other and expands the knowledge of netizens on both sides of the world. This is indeed an incredible leap between East and West.
In the past two days, Xiaohongshu has topped the app download charts in at least 70 or 80 countries, and it suddenly looks like it is about to become the most diverse platform for the exchange of life experiences among the world’s most diverse visitors and participants in terms of nationality and ethnicity. While there may be some problems in the future, the world’s people-to-people exchange will have an overwhelming effect that will make the issues that may arise less important and completely uncontrollable in people’s feelings.
This is the real accumulation of China’s national strength. We have been working hard to overcome all kinds of problems, and the effects of those efforts are reflected in the external mirror on the platform of the world’s netizens.
▲ On January 15, local time, it was learned that two people familiar with the matter revealed that TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of US President-elect Trump on January 20. Trump has more than 14 million followers on the TikTok platform, and Trump has repeatedly voiced his affection for TikTok. (Source: CCTV News)
It is worth mentioning that according to the latest CCTV report, two people familiar with the matter revealed that Trump will invite TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi to attend his inauguration ceremony on the 20th of this month. In addition, there is news that Biden administration officials are considering how to keep TikTok operating in the United States, and Trump is considering issuing an executive order to suspend the TikTok ban for 60 to 90 days after taking office. These are very important positive developments. I think the influx of TikTok refugees to Xiaohongshu and the “big reconciliation” that has occurred in the past two days has created a potential pressure on Washington and contributed to the emergence of new signs.
If TikTok survives in the United States, that’s what we all want to see. At the same time, Xiaohongshu’s other path to internationalization has already put a new brand on the global Internet this week, and I don’t think this brand will easily disappear. People around the world need more transparent communication, and Xiaohongshu allows all visitors to be on the same platform, rather than a middle way, which is a greater imagination, and it means new online experiences and lives.
