When Chinese Stanford student Charlwin Mao was thinking of a name for his startup in 2013, he settled on Xiaohongshu, which translates to “Little Red Book”.
It refers to the color of his famous university and his former employer, Bain Capital, both foundations of American capitalism.
This week, however, his choice of name has become the main topic of the internet conspiracy theory that the app is named after a collection of quotes from Chairman Mao Zedong, which some have dubbed the “Little Red Book”.
Xiaohongshu, a popular social media app in China, was not well known outside the country until the impending ban of TikTok in the US led to something unexpected. the rise of American users. They called Xiaohongshu, which has no official English name, RedNote.
Last year, US lawmakers passed legislation that would have shut down TikTok unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, seized control, saying it threatened national security. Supreme Court decision take hold of the law means TikTok faces a US ban on Sunday, cutting off access to the 170 million Americans who spend billions of dollars on the app.
The irony that a Chinese social media app, which has strict content control rules and is guarded by Beijing's internet censors, has become the beneficiary of Washington's efforts to block another Chinese app has delighted internet users.
But for Mao, there is no relationship with Chairman Mao, it is not a laughing matter. He works in a sensitive administrative environment where administrators do not take kindly to any breach of the Great Firewall – the digital divide that separates Chinese people online from the outside world.
Xiaohongshu responded to its new US popularity by rushing to update its content moderation regime. Its founder and chief executive, focused on a media environment he actively avoids, has remained silent.
Mao is part of the second generation of Chinese internet entrepreneurs who emerged in the mid-2010s to challenge the dominance of giants such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.
While still at Stanford Business School, he pitched an online lifestyle company to investors.
Early funding came from US and Chinese sponsors, ZhenFund, GSR Ventures and what was then called GGV Capital. He and co-founder Miranda Qu, a Wuhan native and marketing executive, tested a few ideas, including a travel guide for Chinese tourists.
They eventually settled on a photo-sharing app focused on lifestyle content. Mao later received the backing of Tencent and Alibaba, a rare achievement from rivals. Both invest money to prevent another from getting started.
According to figures provided to investors, Xiaohongshu has more than 300mn active users who rely on it for restaurant recommendations, travel ideas and beauty tips. That number will be higher later this week. It is an important channel for consumer brands to reach consumers through sponsored posts and influencers.
Those close to Mao call him a smooth, skilled operator of Chinese and American business — skills honed during his time at Bain Capital.
“There are two types of typical Chinese entrepreneurs. One is the naive type, who wears t-shirts and trainers and is shy when speaking in public. “One is a wolf warrior who likes to bark at people around him,” said another veteran worker.
“Mao is not him. He has the best fashion among all the founders of Chinese technology. He is speaking in the clear manner of the Wall Street elite,” they added.
Visitors to Xiaohongshu's headquarters in Shanghai are met with a public display on the Internet. Unlike many crowded Chinese offices, it's filled with cute houseplants, hip coffee carts and a platform for influencers to shoot videos.
On Fridays, employees bring dogs and cats into the office, part of a long-standing tradition Mao encourages to “feel at home”, one employee said. The use of company nicknames reinforces the informal atmosphere. Mao adopted the moniker Seiya, a Japanese anime hero, while Qu was named after the historical heroine Mulan.
Despite the pitfalls of workplace continuity, Xiaohongshu still has the kind of hyper-work culture common to Chinese tech companies. Mao is known for interviewing prospective employees in the middle of the night, showing the commitment he expects. Others point to the high turnover rate as evidence of burnout.
This week, the workers worked harder than ever. Along with the challenge of ensuring adequate data center capacity, there is the sensitivity of playing host to a unique exchange between American and Chinese users.
Many are happy to see the connection of good nature at a time when political ties are collapsing. Attention has also attracted interest from those seeking to buy a stake in Xiaohongshu at an inflated price of $20 billion, according to two investors.
However, others point out that Beijing is unlikely to tolerate Chinese internet users being exposed to western content. While, in the US, the same lawmakers who want to stop TikTok may make Xiaohongshu their next target. Due to the strained relationship between the two countries, Xiaohongshu's time in world fame may be short-lived.
eleanor.olcott@ft.com, zijing.wu@ft.com
Additional reporting by Wenjie Ding and Nian Liu in Beijing