You might be thinking of https://raindrop.io which is developed by a Kazakh developer?
(Just thinking out loud.. if I were to find all HN threads discussing such apps (maybe searching for raindrop or pocket?) via the search I might find it more quickly.)
It does not have self-hosted, although it does have a free tier. The free tier is pretty limited, allowing just 50 bookmarks. So basically amounts to a free trial more than something you’d use for free for a long time, IMO.
The website is available in English and Chinese, so the developers might be from China.
My wording was a bit confusing in how I said it, but what I meant to say was that like the one you were thinking of this one is also not self-hosted.