Tucked away in a residential neighborhood in the west of Hong Kong, the Kennedy Town Playground’s basketball courts aren’t particularly noteworthy. Most locals walk past them on their way to somewhere else. But for many tourists visiting the city from mainland China, the courts are a must-see destination. They’re not interested in joining a pick-up basketball game. It’s because the courts, perched on the side of a hilly slope, offer great views of the Hong Kong skyline.
Tourists may discover new exciting spots, but the information reaches few travelers outside of China. Behind the app The app’s name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the red-covered book made up of quotations from the founding father of Communist China, Mao Zedong, though that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Headquartered in Shanghai, Xiaohongshu was founded by friends Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu in 2013 as a way for Chinese netizens to share snippets of their lives.