by Xinhua writers Jiang Shengxiong, Tian Ying and Yao Yuan
BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- What started as posting of pet pictures and trading of cute memes on a Chinese social media network has gone deeper than many had expected, with American "TikTok refugees" inquiring about life in China and writing emotional letters to a fictional Chinese character named "Li Hua."
"Dear Li Hua, I'm sorry I didn't get your letters. I understand you've been writing to me for a long time, but now I'm here to reply." Such is the common theme of many letters recently penned by U.S. TikTokers, who flocked to the social media platform "rednote" after the U.S. government moved to ban TikTok.
The upsurge in letter writing followed an outpour of kindness and enthusiasm from Chinese rednote users, some of whom welcomed the English-speaking newcomers in the persona of Li Hua and with a light-hearted question -- "Why haven't you replied for so long?"
Li Hua lives in the collective memory of the Chinese people born in the 1980s and 1990s and beyond. It is believed that the figure debuted in the English test of the national college entrance exam in 1995, when examinees were told to write a letter as Li Hua to invite a foreign pen pal to a picnic.
Without any gender assignment, the name Li Hua has since stuck in China's English exams. Tens of millions of Chinese students have once been Li Hua, having written to introduce Chinese culture, exchange school experiences, and share their dreams, most commonly to an imaginary American friend.
For many U.S. netizens, this was the first time they had heard about Li Hua. It did not take long, however, for their response letters to start flooding in, usually with an unpolished Chinese translation, some in video clips, and some in stiff handwritten Chinese.
THE REPLIES
"I hope that you are doing well. I hope that your family is in good health, and that you were able to get into the university that you wrote so much about to me," replied a netizen by the name of Katt.
"Life has been rough, but still filled with a lot of happiness... I'm sad that I missed spending the years sharing with you, but I'm so happy that we can now make up for lost time," said River Guthrie.
Another netizen "Taetertott" chose Chinese handwriting, and told a popular story from her childhood -- "an adult told me that if I dug a hole deep enough, I could get to China... I dug down almost 8 feet by myself before realizing I was trapped and needed help out, haha!"
The hashtag #LiHua and its Chinese equivalent have so far garnered over 50 million views and 300,000 comments on rednote, with many Chinese netizens describing the letters as materializing "the vision of a global village."
"At this moment on the internet, we feel so lucky that our paths crossed and you guys responded to our letters. This is one of the greatest romances of the 21st century," a netizen named "Jianxiatian" remarked under one of the letters.
"It's like you say 'Hello, world,' and then, many years later, the world embraces you," another Chinese netizen commented.
ECHOES TO COME
Earlier this month, mounting concerns over the TikTok ban drove a significant number of the app's American users who called themselves "TikTok refugees" to rednote, a Chinese app that fuses the features of Instagram and Pinterest.
TikTok halted service on Sunday in the United States. Although the app's operation was resumed on Monday, many American users have since stayed on rednote largely thanks to the warm reception from across the Pacific and the rich array of contents related to Chinese cuisine, scenery and culture.
As of Friday evening, the hashtag #tiktokrefugee has garnered 2.7 billion views on rednote with over 37 million posts and comments, while the Chinese tag #welcomeglobalvillagers has more than 31 million views.
Initially, exchanges on the platform were mostly polite greetings and pet photos bid as "cat tax," which was probably inspired by some Chinese netizens' tongue-in-cheek demand for American newcomers to surrender their pet photos, in exchange for a permission to stay.
More in-depth conversations have since followed, including inquiries about China's medical bills and price levels in the United States. For instance, an anonymous U.S. netizen has posted the grocery prices in California, triggering heated discussions about the price differences between the two countries and even among different U.S. regions.
Zhu Jingjiang, an anthropologist at Minzu University of China, described the Chinese-American interactions on rednote as a meaningful anthropological event, which sheds light on cultural encounters and understanding of the "other."
"I previously thought the encounters of Chinese and U.S. netizens on rednote would only go as far as some chitchat or sharing cooking tips," said Zhu. "But now you see the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries resonate well and have remarkable depth and width."
"For both Chinese and Americans, this is a spontaneous initiative of unprecedented scale to explain to, understand and interact with people from another culture, and by doing so to correct longstanding stereotypes," the professor said.
One column on Shangyou News noted that through the letters, netizens discovered that the commonalities of ordinary people across countries far outweigh their differences, and such cyber exchanges have unleashed goodwill among the peoples of different nations, deepening mutual friendship and trust.
"Gathered on rednote, people from around the world are bonded by friendship, keeping memories alive with the hope of echoes to come! May Li Hua's letters always receive a response," wrote a netizen from China's Anhui Province. ■
