Red hot: key facts about Xiaohongshu, the Chinese app taking the US by storm

Beijing: In the days leading up to a proposed US government ban on the social media platform TikTok, American users have turned to another Chinese own...

Beijing: In the days leading up to a proposed US government ban on the social media platform TikTok, American users have turned to another Chinese-owned app, Xiaohongshu.

The United States passed a law last year forcing the popular video platform's owner ByteDance to either sell it or shut it down by January 19.

With that deadline looming, Xiaohongshu -- a lifestyle-focussed Instagram-meets-Pinterest alternative -- has been propelled to the top of the US Apple App Store free downloads chart.

The hashtag "tiktokrefugee" had more than 290 million views as of noon on Wednesday.

Here are some key facts about Xiaohongshu: