I chat regularly with a few Chinese netizens on XHS. A couple of things you should know:

• The US government actually monitors what is said on there and if you say something expressing violent intent towards the USA or it’s allies the FBI will visit you and this has been documented happening to a user.
• The built in translation works pretty good but some notes: misgendering happens a lot and its not intentional (spoken Mandarin is genderless and netizens don’t care to correct pronouns in written Mandarin) and Mandarin is very direct and that can sometimes come off as rude in translation.
• The app itself is pretty unsecure so just assume all communication you do on there is open to everyone and their mother to see.
• You will learn some Mandarin if you spend enough time on there between just comprehensible input and the occasional video that pops up of someone teaching short, basic Mandarin words and phrases.
• There are also a few accounts of North Koreans and a few of Chinese students studying in North Korea and it’s kind of cool to see beyond the veil into snippets of North Korean life here and there.
• There is a punk/hardcore scene in Beijing and it’s dope af.

So anyways I encourage everyone to do it and see what China is really like. Even though there are many things to criticize about China (they have a long way to go for LGBTQ rights, for instance) there is more to praise and most people walk away with a better view of China than before going in.