How America fell in love with China's memes

The US government says Chinese apps and online activities threaten Americans' security. But US internet users can't get enough of Chinese memes.

Industrial food-grade glycine is not a topic you'd typically expect to capture anyone's imagination. But since the summer of 2024, one Chinese amino acid manufacturer has found itself at the centre of a TikTok sensation in the US. American users of the social media site have become preoccupied with posts from the company, Donghua Jinlong, turning them into wildly popular memes as the company coyly played along. And so, word about Chinese industrial glycine quickly spread.

In recent weeks, a looming ban on TikTok in the US also saw Americans flock in surprising numbers to another popular Chinese social media app called RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu – which literally translates as Little Red Book. Some three million users in the US signed up to RedNote in the days ahead of a law banning TikTok over national security concerns briefly came into force before President Donald Trump gave it a 75-day reprieve.

These self-proclaimed "TikTok refugees" joined around 300 million active users of Xiaohongshu, who are mainly in China, leading to a burgeoning relationship between Chinese and American citizens as they swapped jokes, memes and even helped each other with their homework.

It comes at a time when tensions between the US and China are especially heightened amid concerns over national security and fears of an impending trade war between the two countries. Yet social media appears to be providing American and Chinese citizens with an opportunity to overcome the "Great Firewall" that typically separates their country's internet activities. But could this collision of two rich but very different meme cultures be more than just a laugh? And can it provide a common ground between people so often separated by the rhetoric of their political leaders?

Certainly, while the migration to RedNote is new, American fascination with Chinese memes is not. 

In 2024, Chinese memes and content burst into American digital culture in a strange and surprising way. During the summer, "glycine girlies" granted Hebei-based industrial glycine manufacturer Donghua Jinlong unexpected celebrity status. Glycine is an amino acid used in various food products. Separately, meme-makers also embraced bizarre videos about a character named "Little John" who uses galvanised steel beams to carry out absurd home renovations in a running joke that originated on China's BiliBili platform. 

Perhaps you've heard of "u swan, he frog"? In August 2024, influencer YourKris published a post on RedNote in which she discussed relationship troubles with her boyfriend. She was met by a flood of supportive comments from Chinese users featuring turns of phrase such as "you swan, he frog". The literally translated idiom was subsequently used by Americans online to describe everything from celebrity relationships to political candidates. 

The popularity of Chinese memes reveals how American users are expressing a fascination with China right at the moment when tensions between these two countries, especially in terms of technological dominance, have arguably never been higher. And it is providing the opportunity for some seemingly unlikely interactions that appear to defy the geopolitical narrative.

It is worth noting that while Americans have the right to freedom of expression, Chinese citizens do not enjoy the same levels of free speech and certain phrases or topics are blocked on social media platforms and messaging apps. 

According to some American creators who share Chinese content online, the reason it performs well is the same reason any content does well: it's funny, well-made, and feels authentic.

Donghua Jinlong, the glycine manufacturer from Hebei, only became a meme after one of its advertisement videos became an unexpected TikTok hit in mid-2024. Donghua Jinlong's cheery social media marketing for an industrial product that is not even available directly to consumers struck many as bizarre. "We saw that video and we all were just collectively like, this is a thing," says Diana R, the creator behind the popular meme account citiesbydiana. "We spent an entire month pretending we were buying industrial chemicals from China and making influencer-style videos for a product that's only sold business-to-business." The meme was prominent enough that The Washington Post, The New Yorker and several other outlets devoted coverage to it.

Donghua Jinlong coyly played along by sending merchandise packages to creators. The meme spread to platforms beyond TikTok with self-proclaimed "glycine girlies" creating Donghua Jinlong fan content that poked fun at the clichés of social media posting associated with celebrity influencers and brands.  

But the American obsession with a Chinese chemical manufacturer may also have a political edge to it. Particularly in an election year in which Donald Trump, who ultimately won the election, campaigned on a promise to impose steep tariffs on businesses like Donghua Jinlong.

China is the country we're not supposed to like," explains Diana. "The government has told us to hate them. But I'm not afraid of them. It's a political statement. They're just like us, and we know they're just like us. It's obviously different cultures, different languages, but at the end of the day, we're all laughing about funny s***."

In the wake of the TikTok ban, US and Chinese users on RedNote have joked about spying on one another and what they say are their governments' attempts to keep them apart. "Grand political narratives lose their power at the level of everyday interaction," says Jianqing Chen, an East Asian languages and cultures researcher at Washington University in St Louis. "Personal, direct engagement through social media enables users to see beyond geopolitical tensions to recognise shared human experiences."

Screenshots of conversations apparently between Chinese and American netizens on RedNote reveal how even seemingly banal interactions have provided a source of fascination in both countries. Some have spent time discussing the cost of healthcare or their English homework – with the interactions going viral on X – while Chinese-language songs have trended across the English-speaking parts of TikTok.

Americans have long wondered what lies on the other side of the "Great Firewall", a term that refers to China's strict internet censorship. American engagement with Chinese memes happens in the context of technical divides, legal restrictions placed by the two countries on each other's tech sectors and, Chen says, "the nature of Web 2.0 platforms, which appear open and connected, but actually function as enclosed ecosystems that create invisible barriers between users".

RedNote, which is one of the only major Chinese platforms the government allows to be available overseas, has often been the entry point for Americans into Chinese internet culture. "The netizens on Xiaohongshu create the most incredible content I've ever seen. I've learned how to be more creative from them and they're a huge inspiration," says Rick, an American who posts videos to TikTok under the username Prognoz Pogodi. He declines to reveal his full name, in order to preserve his anonymity online.

Rick first explored RedNote following a recommendation from a friend he met online. He was immediately impressed. 

Rick's TikTok videos redubbing content from Xiaohongshu often focus on educational or food-related posts from the Chinese platform, and use literal translations of Mandarin idioms and phrases. 

"I am extremely surprised things took off as much as they did and as quickly as they did," Rick says. "I never thought so many people would be into this."

Some of his posts have millions of views and his videos featuring Fiveish, the talking five-dollar bill who reads artificial intelligence-generated translations of stories from Xiaohongshu, have spawned a slew of imitators including Yapdollar, who mimicked the concept on other platforms.

Like any artform, memes reveal to their viewers what the world looks like through someone else's eyes. And if the affection of American social media users for Chinese memes shows anything, it may be that curiosity remains a fundamental force shaping internet culture, whether you're scrolling through Instagram or X, browsing a news website, or chatting with other netizens on Xiaohongshu. 

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