RedNote, or Xiaohongshu, hit the top spot on Apple's US App Store ranking this week.Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesRedNote, or Xiaohongshu, has taken the West by storm.TikTok users have flocked to RedNote ahead of the looming ban on their app.The sudden influx of users has created a mass cultural exchange, but experts say it may not last.For over a decade, China's social media has been living in its own world.Without access to YouTube, Facebook, Google, or Instagram, the country instead relies on local apps such as BiliBili, Weibo, Baidu, and, more recently — Xiaohongshu.Xiaohongshu, now known in English as RedNote, transformed overnight into a bridge between the realms of China's internet and America's, as a sudden wave of US users downloaded the app this week in anticipation of a national ban on TikTok.RedNote's rise was relatively recent in the Chinese space, with the app only gaining significant mainstream traction from 2018 onward.It's most often compared to Instagram, with a heavy focus on photos presented through a grid-like feed.