What is Peppa?

Any guesses as to what this is?

Do you know what this is?

A hint -- it's one of the most popular pigs in China at the moment.

Does it look like Peppa Pig to you?

OK it doesn't have the exact resemblance of the pink pig, but for a Chinese grandpa it's as good as it gets.

It's to drum up excitement for Peppa Pig Celebrates Chinese New Year, released by Alibaba Pictures, and it's about two children who mark the Chinese holiday with Peppa and her family.

The teaser trailer doesn't show any animation in it, but the five minute, 41-second video called What is Peppa will resonate with many people in China.



A grandfather in the countryside calls his son to ask if he is bringing the grandson to visit for Spring Festival. He gets to talk to the child and asks what he would like grandpa to buy for him. The child says, "Peppa!" before the line is cut off.

The old man is stumped. Peppa? He consults the dictionary and can't find the Chinese word in there, and asks his friends but they have no idea what he is talking about.

Peppa (far right) with her family in Chinese clothes

Finally he finds a woman who used to be a nanny in the city. She describes what Peppa looks like and so the grandfather fashions a porcine head out of metal scraps he has...

It's a cute video that really reflects the extreme social and economic changes happening in China, but also sadly shows how people in the rural areas are really left behind and hardly benefit from the country's economic development in the past 40 years.

So there you go. Does it look like Peppa to you?