January 21, 2025 • 17 mins
The US ban on TikTok saw millions of users – predominantly Americans – flock to another Chinese social media platform: Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. So far, the vibe between Chinese and American users has been convivial.
But can the good times last? On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha is joined by a TikTok user from Mississippi who recently joined RedNote and by Bloomberg reporter Gao Yuan to discuss what this sudden influx means for the app, its users and China’s censorship machine.
Read more: TikTok Refugees in US Test Xi’s Firewall While Embracing Chinese
Further listening: Inside Microsoft’s Censorship of Bing in China
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hello everybody, We're from TikTok from America.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
What's up, new friends, Thanks for letting us across the
party you're at Little red Book.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I would like to welcome all my fellow Americans to
shaohong Shu.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Last week, as the US ban on TikTok drew closer,
it's one hundred and seventy million American users. We're forced
to face the fact that they might be kicked off
their favorite social media app, and in a surprising turn
of events, they began flocking to another Chinese social media platform,
shao hong Shu, also known as Red Note. Hiaoung Shu's
(00:44):
nice to meet you. Thanks for taking me me and
oh my friends, I hope we don't break you. These
newcomers have come up with a name for themselves. We're
all TikTok refugee.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
TikTok refugee here, Hello, my fellow Tektok refugees.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
For those who aren't familiar, Shao Hoangshu looks a lot
like Instagram, and the app is hosting almost unheard of
interactions between Chinese and American medicines.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
This is probably the biggest public to public social exchange
between Chinese and Americans since the two thousand and eight
Beijing Olympics.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Gal Yuan is a Bloomberg technology reporter based in Singapore.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Before this, Saga and Shahunshu, we are not seeing too
many opportunities for people from China and the US to
directly communicate to each other. The only way for people
inside China is to use VPN to get across the
Great Firewall so that they can browse Google, Instagram, or Facebook,
(01:48):
and this technology is only reserved to the tech savvy.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
China's Internet Firewall is designed to restrict Chinese citizens' access
to any content that the government deems sensitive, and foreign
websites like Google and Facebook are blocked in mainland China.
The controls had effectively prevented Chinese medicines from having direct
information exchanged with the outside world, but now the threat
(02:13):
of a ban on TikTok has changed all that. So
many Americans are interacting with Chinese users on Showanngshu, and
it became the most downloaded free app on iOS in
the US.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It's the first time that people from China and the
people from the US are having a chance to actually
talk online to each other without any barriers. It's something
that would excite people from China and app belief also
from the US.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
This surge of TikTok exiles might, on the face of it,
look like a good thing for Shaohong Sshu. More users
mean more eyeballs and traffic for the company, but all
those good things come with a high degree of risk
for the Chinese app.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
They all need to manage the contents on the app,
and it's going to be tough because they have never
experienced this surge of non Chinese speaking posts. If the
government is see is the contents on Shahoungshu are not
being properly managed, they would do something. You don't want
the government to step in and say, hey, you have
to delete something that is not fitting the Chinese law.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha.
Every week we take you inside some of the world's
biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and
businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the show,
the American TikTok users jumping ship for another Chinese app.
(03:39):
What does this mean for shao hung Shu and with
you as President Donald Trump now delaying the TikTok ban,
will they stay for good? In the past week, it's
estimated that shaw wang Sshu has drawn millions of users
ahead of the ban on TikTok. Of them are from
(04:00):
the US, and we chatted with one of them.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I am Brecking Newman. I am thirty one years old,
and I am currently a realtor in the state of Mississippi.
I'm in the city golf Port Reckon.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
How long have you been using TikTok?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Probably like five or six years. I just kind of
go on there and put content every now and then,
and I've posted a couple videos of like home tours.
There was a rental that my wife and I bought
that was like completely destroyed, so I did like a
before and after video on there, but pretty much just
like family stuff with me, my daughter, my wife, my dogs.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Oh nice. So when did you actually join Shaohunkshoe.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I joined Shaohunkshu like it was it's been like forty
eight hours. Probably it's only been like two days. I
just was scrolling through TikTok and they were like, hey, everybody,
go check out red Note and what brought you there
to be honest, it was just the fact that it
was something different. If I get on Instagram, it's going
to be the same thing I see on Facebook here x.
(04:58):
I literally just wanted to join and meet people because
it's like I don't judge a book by its cover
until I meet you. You know. I don't listen to
the government, I don't listen to the media. I just
try to put my thought process in there as.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Well and describe to me your first post on shaham Shue.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So it is a picture of my daughter and I.
It was from like a Christmas event that we went to.
We were just walking around looking at Christmas lights and
I just decided to post it. I was like, hello
from America. Nice to meet everybody, coming over here to
make friends, see cultures. And then the first family to
really see it was this beautiful family that I'm now
(05:35):
best friends with. They're in Shanghai, and their daughter's name
I think is like tu two. And then they were
one of the first comments to ever post on that picture.
So Tutu's mother, she posted a picture of her family,
like an up close picture of their beautiful family, of course,
and they were just saying hello, welcome and then after that,
(05:58):
it just seemed like from there everybody else was just
posting family pictures and welcoming and going from there.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And that post just blew up overnight, right it made
its way to x as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yep, someone ended up taking a picture of me and
Tutu's family and it got onto X. I think it's
got like over eight million views right now. And like
I just posted it, I wasn't expecting nothing from it,
and then I get on shaw and Shoe again and
I was like, holy smokes. You know, there's so many
people commenting and liking sharing pictures of their families, which
was awesome. I think that was really great, just seeing
(06:32):
everybody come together. Everybody was getting emotional and everyone was
like connected. It was crazy. I guess this is really
the first time, I mean, we've really connected with any
Chinese people, to be honest, that's really nice.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Now you're posting a lot on shawan Shu and interacting
with new friends, are you at all concerned about giving
personal information to an app owned by a Chinese company?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So the reason they're trying to get rid of TikTok,
they're saying it's Chinese own, and you know, Chinese are
stealing our data, and it's like none of us really
care because our data is being sold everywhere anyways, so
it's like we might as well continue on, like we
don't worry about it.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
So data security aside. What about censorship on shaw Hoanschhu.
How familiar are you with China's censorship system.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I'm not gonna lie, I don't know too much about it.
In terms of Chinese censorship. I think the only thing
that I really knew not to talk about was government stuff.
So I was like, let me just stay away from
that in general. Right when everything started going viral, everyone's like, hey,
don't post this, don't post that. Here in America when
people go to the gym, they're like half naked, They're like, hey,
(07:39):
don't do that here. Don't post links, don't talk about
government stuff. We're very regulated here. And I'm like that's
perfectly fine, you know, because at the end of the day,
this is your house. Like I knew for a fact
coming in I needed to respect your culture and you
as a whole.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And I bet that's something that Chinese users on sha
Honshu really appreciate. Now with so many American users on
Chahanshu if China were to clamp down or find a
way to segregate US and Chinese users, or if like TikTok,
the US government ends up wanting to ban Chauhankshu. How
would you feel about those kinds of controls.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That would be a little sad, to be honest, because
I've talked to a couple other people about that on
the app. Especially of course, like I said, I've been
making quite a bit of friends, so it's like that
would suck to be able to lose that communication with
them to an extent. But I mean I've officially downloaded
we chat. Oh really Yeah, we've been connecting that way,
which has been great. T two and her her mother,
(08:36):
we're best friends. Now we're already talking about visiting each
other or going places. They were talking about making a
trip over here to America, and we're talking about going
over there to China.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Wow, that's fantastic, Reckon says he and his family are
thinking about visiting Q two's family in Shanghai as soon
as March. He's excited to tour the city and see
China for himself. After the break. How is Chao Hoon
Shu handling this sudden influx of American users and will
(09:06):
a party last. To better understand how unusual this exchanges
between Chinese and American users on Chao hoang Shu, we
talked to Gao Yuan, a Bloomberg Tech reporter in Singapore. Gao,
(09:29):
how are you? Thanks for joining us?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I'm good, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Now, Gao, do you use Shaooshu?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I do.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Actually, it's my guilty pleasure. I think I used it
maybe too much a week.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
I know what you mean. I use it a lot too.
Chao hong Shu is known by many Americans as a
Chinese equivalent of Instagram, but Gao says it's much more
than that.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
The users get all kinds of contents and services from
the app. They can post theory, travel photos, share videos,
maybe find some restaurants, or chat with strangers, and some
people do online shopping on Shahoonshu. So essentially, it's a
hyper combination of many functionalities that you see on many
apps from x, Instagram, clubhouse, Shane, and the beyond.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
The name shau Honshu literally translates to Little Red Book,
and before this app became a household name, if you
asked the typical Chinese what Chao Honshu means. They would
probably direct you to a particular little Red Book entitled
Quotations from Chairman mount Zadan.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
It's the name of a pamphlet with scarlet red cover
full of Cherman Mountadon's quote collections. It was once a
bible for the communist movement during the Culture Revolution in
China in the nineteen sixties and seventies.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Chao Honshu's co founder, Mirandi Chu said the app was
created originally to help people shop overseas. That's according to
Chinese media reports. Chu said the color red is memorable
and they wanted the app to serve as a guidebook
for users, hence Little Red Book. And before American users
began signing up, Chauanshu was already popular outside of mainland
(11:16):
China in places like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and
most of the apps users are Mandarin speakers. But a
lot has changed in the last week. Now when you
open up your Chauonshu, now what does the feed show you?
And what are Chinese and American users talking about?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
It's been crazy, to be honest, They have all kinds
of questions asking the answered from like what you had
for lunch, to jokes Taylor Swifts, even some aliens, so
all kinds of topics that you can think of. One
interesting topic was the cat or dog text Tessa, you're
(11:57):
going to pay the cat taxt for red no washyer
red notes meow.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
The Chinese people say, no, I don't have a hat tax,
but I have a pub text here. Check this out.
This is my tax.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
I say hello, love you explain that to us.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I think Chinese people know that in America having a
pety is very popular. They actually want to see the
American family's pets. So basically, the American users on Shahuanshu
they should pay dog or cat tax, because firstly they
do on Shahuonshu once they created account, is to post
(12:36):
the photos of their pets.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And how are Chinese users responding to these newcomers. Tikka
refuge from your ass, welcome.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
The childs, welcome to.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Visit China and not just will come here.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I really really hope you will stay.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
The Chinese users actions were extremely friendly and they are
very accepting. I have to say most of the conversations
or exchanges or were very very friendly. People did not
mean any harm to each other and it's very beautiful.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
These exchanges haven't been without friction. A lot of new
joiners were challenged by the language barrier. Many found themselves
disoriented by an entirely new social media platform, and to
help them out, some Chinese users have organized live Q
and A sessions for the newcomers, and they've been spreading
guidelines in posts and comments. Top of the list of
(13:37):
concerns making sure new users don't talk about sensitive topics
like politics for fear of censorship or clamp down. Here's
one exchange from a live Q and A session where
people discussed the TikTok ban.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It's a lot more than that. It's our first amendment, right,
that's at stake.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
And immediately somebody in the room reminded.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Them, Oh, yeah, I know, I'm being careful, but like
that's kind of the main that's the main issue here.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Now for the new users, who are overwhelmingly American, they're
certainly not used to censorship. What do you think the
Chinese government makes of this sudden influx of new users.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
That's a very good question, as the government has been
always saying the internety is not a land without law,
So from China's perspective, the contents is the big risk
for them. Remember this is a walled garden the Internet
within the borders of a Mali in China, So essentially
this flocks off American users from another platform. Somehow breaks
(14:45):
the the Great Firewall. If the world no longer works
in Shahuonshu's case right now, it has ever reason to
cause some concerns.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
It's not yet clear how Shaohangchu is managing this unexpected
flood of TikTok converts, but there have been rumors about
the company tinkering with the app's algorithm. Word is they're
trying to segregate American users someone perhaps to forestall interference
by the Chinese authorities. But it's not just the Chinese
(15:15):
government Shaowangshu has to worry about. They may have to
contend with what the US government might do too for Washington.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I think Shahunshu pusts a series of new challenges to
the regulators in the US because this is a new
app that probably have never thought of making some changes
to regulate it. As we speak, there are so many
American users retonstrating Shahumshu accounts. I was told they all
(15:44):
need to submit their phone number and email address. So yeah,
that's some kind of sensitive information that the US government
has been reluctant for its citizens to submit to other countries,
especially to a Chinese company.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Now, goal do you think this Shaowangshu craze will last?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
To be honest, I didn't expect this kind of freak
exchange could survive its first twenty four hours, but it's
already been going on for days. It's definitely has some lacks,
but it's really hard to estimates what's going to happen next.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Shortly after taking office on Monday, President Trump issued an
order to delay the ban on TikTok for seventy five days,
meaning all those converts to Shahwangshu are now able to
return to TikTok. But for now, a lot of them
are saying that they feel like they've discovered a new
digital home, even with the TikTok band being lifted in
(16:41):
the US. I think I'm going to stick around if
you'll let me stay. I'm staying here.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Red No is Yaohoangshou.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I love the energy, I love the community, I love
the vibe.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
I'm probable stay on Red No and also be on
side because they're not about to play with me again. Okay, Red, No, Hey, sister.
This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm
wan ha. This episode was produced by Young Young, Naomi
Un and Jessica Beck. It was mixed by i'mer Sultan,
(17:12):
sound designed by Jessica and fact checked by Naomi. It
was edited by Patrick Kirsch and Edwin Chan. Naomi Shaven
is our senior producer, Elizabeth Ponso is our senior editor,
Nicole Beemster Bower is our executive producer, and Sage Bauman
is Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Please follow and review The
Big Take Asia wherever you listen to podcasts. It really
(17:32):
helps new listeners find the show. See you next time.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hello everybody, We're from TikTok from America.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
What's up, new friends, Thanks for letting us across the
party you're at Little red Book.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I would like to welcome all my fellow Americans to
shaohong Shu.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Last week, as the US ban on TikTok drew closer,
it's one hundred and seventy million American users. We're forced
to face the fact that they might be kicked off
their favorite social media app, and in a surprising turn
of events, they began flocking to another Chinese social media platform,
shao hong Shu, also known as Red Note. Hiaoung Shu's
(00:44):
nice to meet you. Thanks for taking me me and
oh my friends, I hope we don't break you. These
newcomers have come up with a name for themselves. We're
all TikTok refugee.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
TikTok refugee here, Hello, my fellow Tektok refugees.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
For those who aren't familiar, Shao Hoangshu looks a lot
like Instagram, and the app is hosting almost unheard of
interactions between Chinese and American medicines.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
This is probably the biggest public to public social exchange
between Chinese and Americans since the two thousand and eight
Beijing Olympics.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Gal Yuan is a Bloomberg technology reporter based in Singapore.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Before this, Saga and Shahunshu, we are not seeing too
many opportunities for people from China and the US to
directly communicate to each other. The only way for people
inside China is to use VPN to get across the
Great Firewall so that they can browse Google, Instagram, or Facebook,
(01:48):
and this technology is only reserved to the tech savvy.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
China's Internet Firewall is designed to restrict Chinese citizens' access
to any content that the government deems sensitive, and foreign
websites like Google and Facebook are blocked in mainland China.
The controls had effectively prevented Chinese medicines from having direct
information exchanged with the outside world, but now the threat
(02:13):
of a ban on TikTok has changed all that. So
many Americans are interacting with Chinese users on Showanngshu, and
it became the most downloaded free app on iOS in
the US.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It's the first time that people from China and the
people from the US are having a chance to actually
talk online to each other without any barriers. It's something
that would excite people from China and app belief also
from the US.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
This surge of TikTok exiles might, on the face of it,
look like a good thing for Shaohong Sshu. More users
mean more eyeballs and traffic for the company, but all
those good things come with a high degree of risk
for the Chinese app.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
They all need to manage the contents on the app,
and it's going to be tough because they have never
experienced this surge of non Chinese speaking posts. If the
government is see is the contents on Shahoungshu are not
being properly managed, they would do something. You don't want
the government to step in and say, hey, you have
to delete something that is not fitting the Chinese law.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha.
Every week we take you inside some of the world's
biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and
businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the show,
the American TikTok users jumping ship for another Chinese app.
(03:39):
What does this mean for shao hung Shu and with
you as President Donald Trump now delaying the TikTok ban,
will they stay for good? In the past week, it's
estimated that shaw wang Sshu has drawn millions of users
ahead of the ban on TikTok. Of them are from
(04:00):
the US, and we chatted with one of them.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I am Brecking Newman. I am thirty one years old,
and I am currently a realtor in the state of Mississippi.
I'm in the city golf Port Reckon.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
How long have you been using TikTok?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Probably like five or six years. I just kind of
go on there and put content every now and then,
and I've posted a couple videos of like home tours.
There was a rental that my wife and I bought
that was like completely destroyed, so I did like a
before and after video on there, but pretty much just
like family stuff with me, my daughter, my wife, my dogs.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Oh nice. So when did you actually join Shaohunkshoe.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I joined Shaohunkshu like it was it's been like forty
eight hours. Probably it's only been like two days. I
just was scrolling through TikTok and they were like, hey, everybody,
go check out red Note and what brought you there
to be honest, it was just the fact that it
was something different. If I get on Instagram, it's going
to be the same thing I see on Facebook here x.
(04:58):
I literally just wanted to join and meet people because
it's like I don't judge a book by its cover
until I meet you. You know. I don't listen to
the government, I don't listen to the media. I just
try to put my thought process in there as.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Well and describe to me your first post on shaham Shue.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So it is a picture of my daughter and I.
It was from like a Christmas event that we went to.
We were just walking around looking at Christmas lights and
I just decided to post it. I was like, hello
from America. Nice to meet everybody, coming over here to
make friends, see cultures. And then the first family to
really see it was this beautiful family that I'm now
(05:35):
best friends with. They're in Shanghai, and their daughter's name
I think is like tu two. And then they were
one of the first comments to ever post on that picture.
So Tutu's mother, she posted a picture of her family,
like an up close picture of their beautiful family, of course,
and they were just saying hello, welcome and then after that,
(05:58):
it just seemed like from there everybody else was just
posting family pictures and welcoming and going from there.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And that post just blew up overnight, right it made
its way to x as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yep, someone ended up taking a picture of me and
Tutu's family and it got onto X. I think it's
got like over eight million views right now. And like
I just posted it, I wasn't expecting nothing from it,
and then I get on shaw and Shoe again and
I was like, holy smokes. You know, there's so many
people commenting and liking sharing pictures of their families, which
was awesome. I think that was really great, just seeing
(06:32):
everybody come together. Everybody was getting emotional and everyone was
like connected. It was crazy. I guess this is really
the first time, I mean, we've really connected with any
Chinese people, to be honest, that's really nice.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Now you're posting a lot on shawan Shu and interacting
with new friends, are you at all concerned about giving
personal information to an app owned by a Chinese company?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So the reason they're trying to get rid of TikTok,
they're saying it's Chinese own, and you know, Chinese are
stealing our data, and it's like none of us really
care because our data is being sold everywhere anyways, so
it's like we might as well continue on, like we
don't worry about it.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
So data security aside. What about censorship on shaw Hoanschhu.
How familiar are you with China's censorship system.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I'm not gonna lie, I don't know too much about it.
In terms of Chinese censorship. I think the only thing
that I really knew not to talk about was government stuff.
So I was like, let me just stay away from
that in general. Right when everything started going viral, everyone's like, hey,
don't post this, don't post that. Here in America when
people go to the gym, they're like half naked, They're like, hey,
(07:39):
don't do that here. Don't post links, don't talk about
government stuff. We're very regulated here. And I'm like that's
perfectly fine, you know, because at the end of the day,
this is your house. Like I knew for a fact
coming in I needed to respect your culture and you
as a whole.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And I bet that's something that Chinese users on sha
Honshu really appreciate. Now with so many American users on
Chahanshu if China were to clamp down or find a
way to segregate US and Chinese users, or if like TikTok,
the US government ends up wanting to ban Chauhankshu. How
would you feel about those kinds of controls.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That would be a little sad, to be honest, because
I've talked to a couple other people about that on
the app. Especially of course, like I said, I've been
making quite a bit of friends, so it's like that
would suck to be able to lose that communication with
them to an extent. But I mean I've officially downloaded
we chat. Oh really Yeah, we've been connecting that way,
which has been great. T two and her her mother,
(08:36):
we're best friends. Now we're already talking about visiting each
other or going places. They were talking about making a
trip over here to America, and we're talking about going
over there to China.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Wow, that's fantastic, Reckon says he and his family are
thinking about visiting Q two's family in Shanghai as soon
as March. He's excited to tour the city and see
China for himself. After the break. How is Chao Hoon
Shu handling this sudden influx of American users and will
(09:06):
a party last. To better understand how unusual this exchanges
between Chinese and American users on Chao hoang Shu, we
talked to Gao Yuan, a Bloomberg Tech reporter in Singapore. Gao,
(09:29):
how are you? Thanks for joining us?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I'm good, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Now, Gao, do you use Shaooshu?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I do.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Actually, it's my guilty pleasure. I think I used it
maybe too much a week.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
I know what you mean. I use it a lot too.
Chao hong Shu is known by many Americans as a
Chinese equivalent of Instagram, but Gao says it's much more
than that.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
The users get all kinds of contents and services from
the app. They can post theory, travel photos, share videos,
maybe find some restaurants, or chat with strangers, and some
people do online shopping on Shahoonshu. So essentially, it's a
hyper combination of many functionalities that you see on many
apps from x, Instagram, clubhouse, Shane, and the beyond.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
The name shau Honshu literally translates to Little Red Book,
and before this app became a household name, if you
asked the typical Chinese what Chao Honshu means. They would
probably direct you to a particular little Red Book entitled
Quotations from Chairman mount Zadan.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
It's the name of a pamphlet with scarlet red cover
full of Cherman Mountadon's quote collections. It was once a
bible for the communist movement during the Culture Revolution in
China in the nineteen sixties and seventies.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Chao Honshu's co founder, Mirandi Chu said the app was
created originally to help people shop overseas. That's according to
Chinese media reports. Chu said the color red is memorable
and they wanted the app to serve as a guidebook
for users, hence Little Red Book. And before American users
began signing up, Chauanshu was already popular outside of mainland
(11:16):
China in places like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and
most of the apps users are Mandarin speakers. But a
lot has changed in the last week. Now when you
open up your Chauonshu, now what does the feed show you?
And what are Chinese and American users talking about?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
It's been crazy, to be honest, They have all kinds
of questions asking the answered from like what you had
for lunch, to jokes Taylor Swifts, even some aliens, so
all kinds of topics that you can think of. One
interesting topic was the cat or dog text Tessa, you're
(11:57):
going to pay the cat taxt for red no washyer
red notes meow.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
The Chinese people say, no, I don't have a hat tax,
but I have a pub text here. Check this out.
This is my tax.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
I say hello, love you explain that to us.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I think Chinese people know that in America having a
pety is very popular. They actually want to see the
American family's pets. So basically, the American users on Shahuanshu
they should pay dog or cat tax, because firstly they
do on Shahuonshu once they created account, is to post
(12:36):
the photos of their pets.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And how are Chinese users responding to these newcomers. Tikka
refuge from your ass, welcome.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
The childs, welcome to.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Visit China and not just will come here.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I really really hope you will stay.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
The Chinese users actions were extremely friendly and they are
very accepting. I have to say most of the conversations
or exchanges or were very very friendly. People did not
mean any harm to each other and it's very beautiful.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
These exchanges haven't been without friction. A lot of new
joiners were challenged by the language barrier. Many found themselves
disoriented by an entirely new social media platform, and to
help them out, some Chinese users have organized live Q
and A sessions for the newcomers, and they've been spreading
guidelines in posts and comments. Top of the list of
(13:37):
concerns making sure new users don't talk about sensitive topics
like politics for fear of censorship or clamp down. Here's
one exchange from a live Q and A session where
people discussed the TikTok ban.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It's a lot more than that. It's our first amendment, right,
that's at stake.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
And immediately somebody in the room reminded.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Them, Oh, yeah, I know, I'm being careful, but like
that's kind of the main that's the main issue here.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Now for the new users, who are overwhelmingly American, they're
certainly not used to censorship. What do you think the
Chinese government makes of this sudden influx of new users.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
That's a very good question, as the government has been
always saying the internety is not a land without law,
So from China's perspective, the contents is the big risk
for them. Remember this is a walled garden the Internet
within the borders of a Mali in China, So essentially
this flocks off American users from another platform. Somehow breaks
(14:45):
the the Great Firewall. If the world no longer works
in Shahuonshu's case right now, it has ever reason to
cause some concerns.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
It's not yet clear how Shaohangchu is managing this unexpected
flood of TikTok converts, but there have been rumors about
the company tinkering with the app's algorithm. Word is they're
trying to segregate American users someone perhaps to forestall interference
by the Chinese authorities. But it's not just the Chinese
(15:15):
government Shaowangshu has to worry about. They may have to
contend with what the US government might do too for Washington.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I think Shahunshu pusts a series of new challenges to
the regulators in the US because this is a new
app that probably have never thought of making some changes
to regulate it. As we speak, there are so many
American users retonstrating Shahumshu accounts. I was told they all
(15:44):
need to submit their phone number and email address. So yeah,
that's some kind of sensitive information that the US government
has been reluctant for its citizens to submit to other countries,
especially to a Chinese company.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Now, goal do you think this Shaowangshu craze will last?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
To be honest, I didn't expect this kind of freak
exchange could survive its first twenty four hours, but it's
already been going on for days. It's definitely has some lacks,
but it's really hard to estimates what's going to happen next.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Shortly after taking office on Monday, President Trump issued an
order to delay the ban on TikTok for seventy five days,
meaning all those converts to Shahwangshu are now able to
return to TikTok. But for now, a lot of them
are saying that they feel like they've discovered a new
digital home, even with the TikTok band being lifted in
(16:41):
the US. I think I'm going to stick around if
you'll let me stay. I'm staying here.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Red No is Yaohoangshou.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I love the energy, I love the community, I love
the vibe.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
I'm probable stay on Red No and also be on
side because they're not about to play with me again. Okay, Red, No, Hey, sister.
This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm
wan ha. This episode was produced by Young Young, Naomi
Un and Jessica Beck. It was mixed by i'mer Sultan,
(17:12):
sound designed by Jessica and fact checked by Naomi. It
was edited by Patrick Kirsch and Edwin Chan. Naomi Shaven
is our senior producer, Elizabeth Ponso is our senior editor,
Nicole Beemster Bower is our executive producer, and Sage Bauman
is Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Please follow and review The
Big Take Asia wherever you listen to podcasts. It really
(17:32):
helps new listeners find the show. See you next time.
Hosts And Creators
Sarah Holder
Saleha Mohsin
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