Searches online around "learn Mandarin" have surged in the United States over the past week, as the Chinese app RedNote enjoys a spike in interest ahead of a looming U.S. ban on TikTok on January 19.

This post was updated May 1 at 10:52 p.m. While most students share gossip in their native languages and with their dearest friends, Leo Kitaen has a different approach. Instead, Kitaen, a first-year ...