China’s app Xiaohongshu taps niche rich female Gen Zers

Laura Li, 28, and her cousin Diego Deng, 20, search for guides on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu for photography, a day ahead of the Chinese Labour Day ‘Golden Week’ holidays, in Hong Kong, China, on April 30, 2024. — Reuters

Teresa Cheung fired up her Xiaohongshu app, turned on her camera and dazzled her nearly 1.8 million online followers over a seven-hour livestream.

One moment, she was demonstrating a palette of eyeshadow: “This colour is called ‘Love Letter’,” she said in Mandarin, touting a dark berry-coloured shade. The next, she was reciting an excerpt from the poem A Valediction: Of The Book by John Donne in perfect English: