China tensions have precipitated a decade-long decline in bilateral people-to-people exchanges. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re looking at the impacts of the looming TikTok ban in the U.S., including the “TikTok refugees” moving to

As many Americans flock to RedNote ahead of a possible TikTok ban, Duolingo and Drops have seen an increase in US users learning Chinese.

As "TikTok refugees" flood to Chinese site RedNote, language learning app Duolingo has reported an over 200% spike in people learning Mandarin.

Millions are joining RedNote ahead of the TikTok ban. But the app’s default language is Mandarin. “Oh so NOW you’re learning mandarin,” Duolingo tweeted on Monday.

"First of all, the Chinese are so nice, they're so sweet and so welcoming. They've over here teaching us Mandarin."

The language-learning app Duolingo has seen a surprising trend emerge, the closer we get to the TikTok ban -- there's been a 216% spike in US users learning Mandarin compared to this time last year.

In their mass migration to the Chinese app RedNote, social media users make a gleeful mockery of the American government.

Duolingo says it's seen a huge spike in people learning basic Mandarin, possibly to better navigate the popular TikTok alternative RedNote

With the U.S. ban on TikTok looming, many Americans are opting for another Chinese app known as RedNote. It could be short-lived.

This surge in interest comes as TikTok faces a ban in the US that will take place on Sunday, January 19. With TikTok potentially shutting its doors, American users are turning to a similar app called RedNote (also known as Xiaohongshu), a Chinese social media platform.