How Chinese social media actually works

Same technology, a completely different shape. One app handles messaging, payments, taxis and government forms. More than half of all internet users buy things through live broadcasts. A scripted format nobody in the West has reached 662 million viewers. This path maps the platforms 1.1 billion people actually use, explains why Douyin is not TikTok and Xiaohongshu is not Instagram, and traces every difference back to a few starting conditions. Finish able to read the market on its own terms instead of through analogies that quietly mislead.