Picture of the Day: Xiaohongshu Photo Shoots

Everyone taking pictures of the street sign in Kennedy Town

Walking around Hong Kong I saw a lot of young Chinese tourists, mostly women in their 20s, dressed up and carrying cameras or their phones mounted on selfie sticks, posing in front of specific streets and landmarks.

They were taking pictures where others on Xiaohongshu or "Little Red Book", a social media and e-commerce platform somewhat similar to Instagram, had posted. 

This was their idea of a Hong Kong holiday, or any trip for that matter -- posing in front of places like Bakehouse, a popular bakery with the coveted blue paper bag, or in front of Arabica coffee shop with the coffee cup that has a percentage sign at its Kennedy Town location.

There are other better places to take photos...

While some of these shops may have a bump in business thanks to these visitors snapping up coffees and pastries, I've heard some of these tourists find empty bags or drained coffee cups to use as props.

Can we say these places have been Xiaohongshu-ed?

Why replicate the same angle as everyone else? Or why not create your own memories of the place with other kinds of pictures?

But no, they seemed obsessed with recreating the same picture (different outfits), and patiently waited for others to finish shooting before they set up their own shot. 

Meanwhile they crowd the sidewalks making it hard for local residents trying to get from A to B.

How long will this trend last? Asking for a friend...