China’s answer to Instagram apologises for upsetting tourists with heavily edited photos
SCMP
Xiaohongshu, the social media and lifestyle platform sometimes known as China’s answer to Instagram, apologised for letting bloggers share heavily filtered photos of tourist attractions, disappointing users who went to those locations after seeing the pictures.
The app, also known as Little Red Book, issued a statement on Sunday on its social media account, admitting that some users have “over-beautified” their online travel diaries.
“Since the bloggers did not clearly state that their pictures were works of photography, they were perceived as travel guides. After the viewers visited those places in person, they found a big gap [between reality and what they saw online], leaving them feeling deceived,” the post said.
The platform, which said it has 100 million monthly active users, many of them young female consumers in their 20s and 30s, stressed that its community rules “explicitly call for users to avoid over-editing when sharing recommendations in areas such as beauty and make-up, fashion and store visits”.
“Everyone loves beauty, and you may moderately beautify your diaries. But please remember that the content you share might be used by other people as the basis for making decisions,” the platform said. “We sincerely apologise to our users.”
Xiaohongshu added that it plans to launch a rankings function for travel spots and a list of tourist traps that users should avoid.
The apology came after users complained on social media about their experience following travel guides on Xiaohongshu, only to find out on actual visits that the places are poles apart from the skilfully retouched images they saw. One of the most well-known cases involved the “pink beach” of Fuxian Lake in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, which often appears online in dreamy pastel images, but in reality is more akin to the colour of red bricks.
The highly filtered pictures on Xiaohongshu have recently become a hot topic on Chinese social media, with the hashtags “I won’t trust Xiaohongshu any more” and “how powerful are Xiaohongshu’s filters?” trending on Chinese microblogging site Weibo. The two hashtags had attracted 460 million views and 350,000 discussions by Monday morning.
“If it’s OK to Photoshop promotion pictures for tourist sites like this, I can turn the bushes downstairs in my neighbourhood into a Norwegian forest in any minute,” one of the most upvoted comments said. Others argued that the problem lies with the bloggers rather than the platform.
Xiaohongshu, backed by Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the South China Morning Post – and Tencent Holdings, has risen in recent years as one of China’s most popular social media and e-commerce apps.
Last week, Bloomberg News reported that the Shanghai-based firm is weighing a Hong Kong initial public offering to raise at least US$500 million. The company originally wanted to float in the US, but it put its plan on hold in July.
词汇：
表示“与…相当（或同样好）的人（或物）；…的对应物”，英文解释为“If something or someone is the answer toanother thing or person, it is or they are considered to be similar or as good.”举个🌰：
The Space Needle is Seattle's answer to the Eiffel Tower.
西雅图的太空针塔堪比艾菲尔铁塔。
📍类似的还有个词：equivalent.
2. filter
作动词，表示“过滤”，英文解释为“to remove solids from liquids or gases, or to remove particular types of light, using special equipment”举个🌰：
The water is filtered to remove any impurities.
这种水经过滤以去除杂质。
作名词：
1）表示“筛选（过滤）程序”，英文解释为“a program that stops certain types of electronic information, email, etc. being sent to a computer.”
2）表示“滤器；过滤器”，英文解释为“a device containing paper, sand, chemicals, etc. that a liquid or gas is passed through in order to remove any materials that are not wanted”
3. beautify
表示“给…做美容；美化；修饰，装饰”，英文解释为“to improve the appearance of someone or something”举个🌰：
Money has been raised to beautify the area.
已经筹集到资金来改善这个地区。
4. perceive
1）表示“感知，察觉，注意到，意识到”，英文解释为“to see something or someone, or to notice something that is obvious”举个🌰：
He perceived a tiny figure in the distance.
他注意到远处有个很小的身影。
2）表示“认为；看待；视为”，英文解释为“to come to an opinion about something, or have a belief about something”举个🌰：
How do the French perceive the British?
法国人是如何看待英国人的？
📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述比特币的文章中提到：Scarcity is a trait of many things that are perceived to have value. 稀缺性正是许多被视为有价值的事物共有的特征。
5. deceive
表示“欺骗，蒙骗；隐瞒”，英文解释为“to persuade someone that something false is the truth, or to keep the truth hidden from someone for your own advantage”举个🌰：
The company deceived customers by selling old computers as new ones.
该公司用旧计算机冒充新机器欺骗顾客。
6. MAU
Monthly active users, MAUs 月活跃用户数，月活；类似的就有：Daily active users, DAUs 日活跃用户数，日活。
7. moderately
表示“适度；适量；适中”，英文解释为“within reasonable limits”举个🌰：
He only drinks (alcohol) moderately.
他喝酒不过量。
8. poles apart
表示“截然相反，大相径庭”，英文解释为“completely opposite”举个🌰：
My sister and I are poles apart in personality.
我和妹妹在性格上截然相反。
📍pole本身表示“（地球的）极（点）”，如the North/South Pole 北/南极，也可以指“（意见、立场或特点）截然相反的一端，极端”（either of two completely opposite or different opinions, positions, or qualities）举个🌰：
These two men might be thought to represent the opposite poles of economic ideology.
这两个人可能被认为是两种截然相反的经济思想体系的代表者。
9. retouch
表示“润色；修整（图画或照片）”，英文解释为“If someone retouches something such as a picture or a photograph, they improve it, for example by painting over parts of it.”，举个🌰：
He said the photographs had been retouched.
他说这些照片已被修整过。
10. pastel
pastel /ˈpæstəl/ 表示“浅淡色的，颜色柔和的”，英文解释为“having a pale soft colour”举个🌰：
Their house is decorated in pastel shades.
他们房子的装饰色调轻柔淡雅。
11. akin to sth
表示“与某物相似的，与某物类似的”，英文解释为“very similar to something”举个🌰：
Something akin to panic overwhelmed him.
一种近似惊恐的感觉使他不知所措。
12. bush
表示“灌木”，英文解释为“a plant with many thin branches growing up from the ground”，如：a rose bush 玫瑰丛。
类似的：shrub /ʃrʌb/ 表示“灌木”（a small bush with several woody stems）。
13. upvote
表示“（线上）赞同，点赞”，英文解释为“to click (= choose) a symbol to show that you like or agree with something you have read or seen on the internet”。
14. weigh
表示“仔细考虑；权衡；掂量”，英文解释为“to carefully consider, especially by comparing facts or possibilities, in order to make a decision”举个🌰：
She weighed her options.
她在各种选择间权衡斟酌。
🎬电影《大地惊雷》（True Grit）中的台词提到：I would have to weigh that.我得好好想想。
15. IPO
首次公开募股（Initial Public Offering, IPO）是指一家企业第一次将它的股份向公众出售。一旦首次公开上市完成后，这家公司就可以申请到证券交易所或报价系统挂牌交易。（百度百科）
15. float
熟词僻义，表示“（公司或企业）首次发行（股票）上市”，英文解释为“to start selling shares in a business or company for the first time”。
16. explicitly
表示“明确地；明白地”，英文解释为“in a way that is clear and exact”举个🌰：
I told you quiteexplicitlyto be home by midnight.
我明明告诉过你午夜前回家。
反义词：
📍implicitly表示“含蓄地；暗中地”（in a way that is suggested but not communicated directly:）
17. trend/trending
trend作动词，表示“（某一时刻在社交媒体或网站上）被提及最多的词语（主题或名字）”，英文解释为“to be one of the words, subjects, or names that is being mentioned most often on a social media website or a news website at a particular time”，举个🌰：
Within minutes of the incident her name was trending on Weibo.
事件发生几分钟后她的名字就在微博上传开了。
trend本身也可以直接作名词，原意有“趋势；趋向；倾向；动态；动向；热点”，英文解释为“a general direction in which a situation is changing or developing”。
📍trending hashtags或者说a trending topic，可以指微博上的“#热门话题#”；类似的，Youtube首页上的Trending对应的中文就处理为“时下流行”。
18. put (sth.) on hold
表示“暂停某事，搁置某事”，英文解释为“To pause, postpone, or suspend an activity.”举个🌰：
We've had to put the sale on hold while we figure out why the website keeps crashing.
我们不得不暂停销售，找出网站不断崩溃的原因。
🎬电影《蝙蝠侠：黑暗骑士》（The Dark Knight）中的台词提到：No, I really came to tell you that our business deal has to be put on hold.不，我真的是来告诉你，我们的商业交易必须暂停了。
总结：
1 China‘s answer to/ China’s equivalent to
2 heavily-edited/ heavily-filtered / highly-filtered / over-beautified / over-editing / retouched
3 tourist attractions/ scenic spots / travel spots / tourist sites
4 works of photography
5 travel guide/ travel diary
6 in person
7 found a big gap between and出现巨大心理落差
8 beauty 美妆
9 store visit 探店 crowd magnet 网红打卡地
10 be used by other people as the basis for making decisions
11 rankings function 排行榜 a list of tourist traps that users should avoid 用户避坑榜
12 poles apart 大相径庭（completely opposite）differ from/ be distinct from
be poles from sth
opposit poles of sth
13 retouch 润色修整（图画或图片）
retouched/ edited photo
14 the apology came after
15 only to do 结果状语从句 He lifted the stone，only to drop it and stub his own toe.
16 pastel 浅颜色的 （having a pale soft color）
17 akin to 与某物相似（very similar to something） be akin to
Something akin to panic overwhelmed him
18 hashtag / trend （v.）（n.）/ trending hashtag
19 promotion pictures
20 bush/ shrub Don’t beat about the bush 别拐弯抹角
21 upvote 线上赞同，点赞👍
22 weigh 斟酌考虑（carefully consider，esp by comparing facts， in order to make decision）
consider/ mull over
23 IPO 首次公开募股
24 float 熟词癖义 公司企业首次发行股票（sell share for the first time）