Li  presented his version of Peppa Pig to his grandson. (Photo: screenshot of the video)

A six-minute promo video for the upcoming film “Peppa Pig Celebrates Chinese New Year” went viral on Chinese social media after melting many hearts.

Titled “What is Peppa,” the video is centered around Li Yubao, an old man who lives alone in a remote rural area, and his hilarious yet touching journey of finding out what is “Peppa,” which his three-year grandson living in a city wants the most as a gift for Chinese New Year.

In the beginning, Li is seen phoning his three-year grandson and asking him what he wants for Chinese New Year.

“What is Peppa (pronounced peiqi in Chinese)?” the puzzled grandpa asked, having no clue of what his grandson was referring to. Unable to get a clear answer from his grandson, since the line was cut off due to a bad signal, Li began his hilarious journey in search of an answer.

He first looked up the term in a dictionary, but he found nothing. He then raised the question to the whole village via an old loudspeaker that was commonly used to disseminate information in rural areas during the collective economy era in the 1960s and 1970s. 

The old man Li then encountered several “peiqi” along his journey as he came across people of various backgrounds.

Later at a dining table, a friend suggested he meet someone who would likely know the answer, a woman who used to work as a nanny in Beijing, the capital city of the country.

“It’s a pig, the red one,” the women answered briefly. Li was more confused, and he even thought about painting one of the pigs in his sty with red paint. The next day, he finally learned that Peiqi is the Chinese translation for the cartoon characters Peppa Pig.

“What does it look like?” Li asked curiously.

“Something like this,” the woman said while pointing to a blower she was using for cooking.

Having finally figured out the answer, Li began to make a “peiqi” for his grandson.

Upon meeting his grandson and daughter-in-law, Li was busying taking out various local specialties from his luggage. Finally, he presented his gift to his grandson wrapped in a piece of red cloth, in which there was a red-painted blower vividly shaped just like Peppa Pig.

Some netizens called video the best commercial ever, and said it touches the bottom of their heart. “The video is both hilarious and touching, and makes me want to go home right now,” one Sina Weibo user commented.

Media commented that it reflected the subtle yet deep feelings of Chinese people and reminded us that things we take for granted may be unfamiliar for those we love, encouraging people working faraway to come back home often and accompany family members to spend a happy and warm Spring Festival holiday.

Produced by Alibaba Pictures and Canadian media company Entertainment One, the movie featuring the British cartoon icon will also highlight a number of Chinese cultural elements, such as dragon parade, firework displays, and red scarves. It will hit the Chinese big screen on Feb. 5, the first day of the Chinese New Year and the first day of the Year of the Pig in the Chinese zodiac.