It holds the top position among the most downloaded social networks in the Apple stores in the United States. Shuang is hooked on an app that many of its followers believe ironically adopted the name of a popular red-covered book full of doctrinal quotes from the founding father of communist China.

President Xi Jinping has touted people exchanges as the foundation of healthy US ties. A flood of TikTok “refugees” to Chinese app Xiaohongshu may test his limit for such unscripted interactions.

In the days leading up to a proposed US government ban on the social media platform TikTok, American users have turned to another Chinese-owned app, Xiaohongshu.