Xiaohongshu (XHS; ), known in English as RedNote, is a Chinese social networking and e-commerce platform. It is known for combining user-generated "notes" (posts mixing text, images, and short videos) with product discovery and social commerce features.
, 70% of the platform's users are reportedly born after 1990, and nearly 70% of them are female. The South China Morning Post described Xiaohongshu as "China's answer to Instagram". In January 2025, the app briefly gained an influx of new users from the United States and other parts of the world due to the anticipated shutdown of TikTok's U.S. operations, though the app's popularity overseas quickly faded soon after that. Xiaohongshu subsequently implemented measures to separate Chinese users from non-Chinese users on the platform.
Like all other social media apps in China, Xiaohongshu operates under the strict content moderation requirements from the Cyberspace Administration of China, with content criticizing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or CCP general secretary Xi Jinping being forbidden.
Etymology The app was initially called "Hong Kong Shopping Guide" and targeted Chinese tourists. According to co-founder Mao Wenchao, the name Xiaohongshu () was inspired by his career at Bain & Company and education at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; both institutions feature red as their main color. "Little Red Book" is also the English nickname for the 1964 Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, known during the Cultural Revolution as (). The company has stated that the platform's name is not a reference to the compilation book.
Internationally, the app was branded as RED from 2022 through 2023, then listed under the name REDnote on the Google Play store beginning in September 2024. The latter name is often used by many US users. Since January 20, 2025, the app has been styled rednote on both the App Store and Google Play.
History Xiaohongshu was founded by and Charlwin Mao in 2013 as an online tour guide for Chinese shoppers, providing a platform for users to review products and share their shopping experiences with the community. In 2015, Xiaohongshu set up its warehouses in Shenzhen, Guangdong and Zhengzhou, Henan.
On 6 June 2017, Xiaohongshu held a shopping festival to celebrate its fourth anniversary, which saw the sales revenue exceed CN¥100 million in two hours, while the app ranked in first place in the iOS App Store under the "Shopping" category that day.
In June 2018, the Alibaba Group and Tencent invested US$300 million in Xiaohongshu, with a valuation of US$3 billion.
Due to the platform's early focus on fashion and beauty trends, Xiaohongshu's user base was predominantly female in its early years. 90% of Xiaohongshu users were women, according to a report published in April 2021. The app had attracted affluent Gen Z female users in urban China as an alternative to Instagram, which is blocked in the country. Xiaohongshu subsequently adjusted its corporate strategy to attract more male users to maintain its growth. In 2021, it announced that the platform would promote male user content. By 2022, 30% of Xiaohongshu users were male. There was criticism that the strategy, as well as Xiaohongshu's algorithm, increased harassment on the platform and made women feel less welcome. An external advertising agency marketed Xiaohongshu on other websites as a place to see "Beautiful ladies... without spending any money!" and "Sexy, beautiful car models and stylish beauties", which the company later apologized for.
In 2021, Xiaohongshu applied for an initial public offering in the United States. However, it decided to transfer the IPO from the United States to Hong Kong in the same year. According to a Bloomberg News report in July, this included requiring all companies holding the data of more than 1 million users to submit a cyber security review, which was one of the reasons for the suspension of Xiaohongshu's listing in the United States. Reuters reported that the US IPO was cancelled after Chinese regulators voiced concern over the listing venue.
In 2023, Sequoia China bought the Xiaohongshu shares in multiple transactions at a valuation of $14 billion.
On 18 April 2019, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Branch of Xingyin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (Xiaohongshu) was established in Shanghai. On 15 May 2024, the Xiaohongshu (Beijing) Branch Committee of the CCP was established.
According to the Financial Times, Xiaohongshu completed a round of stake sales of existing shares to new and former investors around July 2024 that valued the company at around $17 billion. This round saw participation from prominent venture capital investors, including DST Global, HongShan (formerly Sequoia China), Hillhouse Investment, Boyu Capital, and CITIC Capital. The platform, which already has significant backing from Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba, achieved profitability in 2023 with a net profit of $500 million on revenues of $3.7 billion. Despite having a large user base of over 300 million monthly active users with high engagement, its total revenue remains significantly lower than Douyin's.
In January 2025, amid uncertainty over the future of TikTok in the United States, a noticeable number of U.S. users began migrating to Xiaohongshu as an alternative platform. Reuters reported that the influx reached over 700,000 new users in roughly two days, alongside a sharp rise in U.S. downloads and visibility on app download charts. Commentators described the episode as cross-platform migration influenced by regulatory uncertainty and platform governance. American users described the move to Xiaohongshu both as a way to preserve a TikTok-like community and as a kind of protest against U.S. government pressure on TikTok. It also gave Chinese users a chance to interact with a large number of English speakers. With state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) supporting the influx, most Chinese citizens warmly welcomed U.S. users, while some Chinese nationalist bloggers warned against American influence. NYU Shanghai professors Anna Greenspan and Bogna Konior cite the influx of "TikTok refugees" to Xiaohongshu as an example of how "West[ern] fears, scepticism, and punitive approach ... has paradoxically helped to enable the development of a distinct and competitive Chinese media environment." In March 2026, Xiaohongshu implemented measures to separate Chinese users from non-Chinese users on the platform. Xiaohongshu's popularity in overseas quickly faded soon after January 2025, with most foreign accounts that joined having stopped posting after that time.
On 11 September 2025, the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered "warnings and strict punishment" to Xiaohongshu over content, warning "Responsible individuals" failed to "fulfil its main responsibility of content management" and that Xiaohongshu had "numerous posts hyping celebrities’ personal dynamics and trivial matters and other negative content frequently populating the hot search list". Xiaohongshu replied by saying "We sincerely accept this, (and will) profoundly learn lessons", stating it launched a "special rectification working group" to improve its search results.
In February 2025, Bloomberg News reported that the China Securities Regulatory Commission told Xiaohongshu that bringing a state-owned investor would make negotiations for approving an initial public offering easier. In June 2026, it was reported that Xiaohongshu was preparing confidentially file for an initial public offering in Hong Kong. The Wall Street Journal reported the state-owned China International Capital Corporation would be among the investors.
Features
Grass-planting Users can share, search and bookmark product reviews and introductions to travel destinations, known as grass-planting (, slang for "sharing and recommending a product") notes, while selling and purchasing goods. By sharing their product experiences, while influencers and users encourage others to make purchases based on their recommendations, they spread information on the platform and help users with various needs to find what they need or plan for. Research on Xiaohongshu has linked note-sharing and perceived authenticity to users' purchase intentions.
Search As Xiaohongshu focuses on lifestyle topics, the ecosystem has given it a growing advantage in competition with traditional Chinese search engines, making it a new generation search engine and earning it the reputation of "National Lifestyle Guide". Search and recommendation features play a central role in how users discover content on the platform. In 2025, Xiaohongshu introduced Diandian, an AI-powered search tool aimed at improving content discovery. Xiaohongshu recorded almost 600 million daily search queries in Q4 2024, reportedly half that of Baidu and doubled over the past year.
Shopping Upon its launch, Xiaohongshu's initial focus was to provide overseas shopping advice to people through digital community interaction. Later, Xiaohongshu launched the function of posting shopping notes in the community to provide customers with more timely shopping information. Xiaohongshu provides international logistics services to third-party merchants. The Financial Times reported that Xiaohongshu's quarterly sales exceeded US$1 billion in the first quarter of 2024.
Business model Xiaohongshu generates revenue primarily through advertising and marketing services, particularly from consumer brands such as cosmetics and lifestyle products. The platform combines user-generated content with product discovery and social commerce features. Reports have noted that users often purchase recommended products on other marketplaces such as Taobao and Tmall, which can limit Xiaohongshu's direct e-commerce conversion.
In addition to advertising, Xiaohongshu has been described as relying on influencer-driven content and brand partnerships as part of its broader social commerce approach. During periods of increased international attention, media coverage has highlighted the platform's efforts to expand its content moderation capacity, including recruitment for English-language moderation.
Content moderation and censorship Like all social media platforms in China, Xiaohongshu operates under the strict content moderation requirements from the Cyberspace Administration of China. Xiaohongshu terms of service state that content that "violate[s], incite[s] resistance or undermine[s] the implementation of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China", "endanger[s] the national unity, the integrity of the sovereignty and territory of the People’s Republic of China", "leak[s] state secrets", "damage[s] the national dignity, honor, and interests of the People’s Republic of China", "defam[es] the excellent Chinese cultural traditions" or incites ethnic or religious conflict, "endanger[s] social morality", "disrupt[s] social order" or "undermin[es] social stability" of the People's Republic of China, promotes obscenity, gambling or drug abuse, or violates the Seven Bottom Lines is forbidden. Additionally, content criticizing the Chinese Communist Party or CCP general secretary Xi Jinping is strictly forbidden. Only state news organizations can obtain licences to publish original news content. Harmless, non-sensitive and non-political content face less censorship.
Xiaohongshu strictly prevents advertising and linking to external websites or apps. Actions such as sending WeChat contacts in posts or DMs or inquiring about prices of goods can lead to account suspension.