With the help of hot memes, "Erbin" has become really popular!

In the process of Harbin becoming a popular tourist city, "hot memes" have played a vital role. Each "meme" has its own unique story and charm. This article will introduce some "hot memes" that have gone viral, explore their connotations and IP logic, and explore the reasons behind their promotion of Harbin's cultural tourism boom. Let's take a look!

This cultural and tourism boom in Harbin is definitely the upgraded 2.0 version of last year's Zibo barbecue. Unlike Zibo barbecue, which appeared out of thin air and lacked historical accumulation, Harbin is actually the result of long-term accumulation, and has made a brilliant explosion in the experience of the city of ice and snow accumulated over many years.

Compared with Zibo, this time there are richer and more endless hot memes, making Harbin's craze a more widespread social carnival.

Today's article is different from any other article about the Harbin craze in that it focuses on the discovery and analysis of each "hot topic".

First of all, what is a "stalk"?

The word "梗" originally came from the corruption of "哏", which means a punchline or foreshadowing. Later, it came to refer to all kinds of things with special meanings or humorous connotations.

With the continuous evolution, the meaning of "梗" has been continuously expanded and extended, ranging from a certain period of time to a plot episode, a picture, a sentence, and all kinds of cultural and entertainment content. There are also various categories, such as "celebrity 梗", "net celebrity 梗", "variety show 梗", "anime 梗", "movie 梗", etc., and it also refers to various situations, such as "height 梗", "classic 梗", "face-to-face 梗", "romance 梗", "social death 梗", "black-bellied 梗", etc.

Now, "梗" has become a synonym for the elements of social communication, referring to the indispensable core elements in any social hot communication.

We can call "memes" "social currency" because in various social communications, "memes" really assume the function of exchanging "social currency". People use "memes" to convey emotions and exchange consensus.

We can also call it "MEME" because "meme" is indeed the smallest unit of information in social communication, and it reproduces and mutates through imitation, replication, and transformation. It is definitely the smallest cultural gene.

The relationship between "梗" and IP is also inseparable, because the dissemination of "梗" requires content and symbols, and these contents and symbols are often IP: an image, an action, a clip, a noun with cultural connotations, a consensus cultural concept, and so on.

It can be said that the carrier of "梗" is IP, the spread of "梗" is the spread of IP symbols, the energy of "梗" is actually the energy of IP culture, and the reproduction of "梗" is actually the reproduction of IP content.

A meme can often hit the soft spot of human nature and is very funny. It is like a match. When it is suddenly paid attention to and amplified, it may gather into a flame, spread like a torch, and set off a carnival.

During this Harbin craze, various "memes" have emerged and been widely spread, such as Harbin, frozen pear, sweet tofu pudding, Hagworth, the runaway princess, the Siberian tiger, transporting mud from south to north, rock sugar, southern small potatoes, small tangerines, etc. Many of them can be developed in the long term and have the potential to become super IPs.

It has to be said that the reason why there are so many hot memes this time is closely related to the Northeastern people's natural enthusiasm for humor and self-deprecating nature. Northeastern people are born with the gene of "king of memes", so their ability to create hot memes is far higher than the super cultural and tourism craze in Zibo and Guizhou Village.

The addition of these hot memes makes the atmosphere very cheerful, and brings rich and positive emotional value to the public during the winter and the end of the year when stress relief is most needed.

These "meme-creating" campaigns have also made Harbin stand out again and again this time. It's not just a certain one that stands out, but a group of people who stand out. It's really a raging fire, creating a grand occasion.

Below, we present these hot topics one by one and analyze them.

1. Erbin

The most famous hot meme is that even the name of the city has been changed. "Erbin", this word with the first letter omitted, has become a synonym for Harbin and has even appeared in various official and semi-official notices.

"Seeing such enthusiasm, I can no longer laugh. Only Erbin is left."

The above is just one explanation for the origin of "Erbin". In fact, we have been searching for a long time and have not been able to find the original origin or the growth process. So it might as well be understood that "Erbin" comes from everyone's collective unconscious outbreak, rather than from the promotion of a certain KOL or expert. So after it quickly became popular, everyone can make their own explanation for "Erbin".

The main reason why "Erbin" became so popular is the government's humor and service attitude. During this craze, the Heilongjiang government even issued a special letter of thanks to tourists from home and abroad, saying bluntly that "your promotion has made many Heilongjiang people 'unable to deal with anything'." This kind of self-deprecating humor is the basis for the widespread popularity of "Erbin."

An artificial moon was raised over Hagia Sophia to serve tourists.

The driver took the initiative to call the tourist a princess.

The Rolls-Royce driver went out on the street to pick up passengers for free (his voice was so loud that it scared Little Potato).

In short, "Erbin" comes from the public's amazement. When everyone was eager to express their emotions about the various new phenomena occurring in Harbin, a city that was already commonplace, they subconsciously felt that the original name could not express it, so "Erbin" came into being, representing an emotion that wanted to burst into the sky.

The two words "Erbin" are more humorous, friendly and humane than Harbin, and can coexist with "Ice City". As long as the support continues, "Erbin" will not only become a synonym for the Harbin craze and miracle, but it is also entirely possible to become a symbol of a city's super IP in the future.

2. Frozen Pears

No matter how many different places a craze occurs in, as long as there is a topic, food will definitely be involved. After all, food, sex and human nature are all part of life, and food is the first necessity of people.

The frozen pear plating is the most famous food meme in this craze, and there are several more related to food.

After studying the frozen pear stalk, I found that the meaning is very simple, that is, many people in Northeast China said that this is the first time they have seen frozen pears on a plate in their lives of more than 20 years. Normally, people in Northeast China eat frozen pears directly, but in order to accommodate southern tourists, various restaurants have actually started to present frozen pears on a plate!

To be honest, this is very normal and really no big deal. It can only become a hot meme in an environment where Northeastern people are the kings of memes. The Northeastern people's sense of humor should be credited to this.

What is reflected behind this is the spirit that the people like and are most willing to praise today: an attitude of bending down to serve the people.

Very similar to this and equally popular is sweet tofu pudding.

3. Sweet Bean Brain

The sweet tofu pudding joke comes from a long-standing controversial topic between the north and the south: Should tofu pudding be salty or sweet? Northerners think it should be salty, while southerners think it should be sweet.

Harbin's tofu pudding has always been famous, and it has always been salty in the past. But in this upsurge, as a major tofu pudding center in the north, in order to satisfy the sweet taste of the south, it has also launched sweet tofu pudding. This change seems to be the perfect combination of the roughness of the northeast and the delicacy of the south.

The proactive appearance of sweet tofu pudding will undoubtedly easily cause a topic in the craze, and there will definitely be defenders of salty tofu pudding who will feel sorry, but this change makes Harbin more charming and more like "Erbin". Erbin is willing to change itself for guests from afar, appearing more diverse and inclusive.

So much so that we saw a sentence on the Internet: "Harbin is now like a rough man from Northeast China dating a delicate and soft girlfriend from the South, and he wants to spend all his family assets."

This kind of pampering has given rise to another topic: the people-pleasing personality.

4. People-pleasing market style

Many self-media articles and Zhihu claim that Harbin’s behaviors can be summarized as the "people-pleasing city personality", which is transformed from an important category in personality psychology: the people-pleasing personality, and personifies the city's personality.

A special entry quickly appeared on Baidu Encyclopedia: "A city with a pleasing style" refers to a phenomenon in which a city actively adjusts itself to better meet the needs of tourists in order to attract and receive tourists... Due to the booming tourism industry in Harbin, the city actively caters to tourists from all over the world by innovating tourism projects, improving service quality and changing its traditional image.

In fact, the people-pleasing style has existed since Zibo. The Harbin craze has given this style its own name. Behind it is still the government spirit that the people need most now: bend down, serve the people, and change for the people.

Everyone noticed that Harbin changed its "bold" style of selling vegetables and started to arrange frozen pears on plates and slice radishes; local taxi drivers also changed their bold and rough voices and treated people gently; Harbin also built a warm station for tourists to rest and keep warm... It is natural that Harbin is labeled as a "pleasing city".

Along with it, the old story of the Siberian tiger has also been given new life.

5. Siberian Tiger

The Siberian tiger is the national treasure of the Northeast and is also the traditional nickname for the people of the Northeast. Under the influence of this wave of enthusiasm and Harbin's pleasing market style, people can't help but make fun of the changes in the temperament of the Siberian tiger.

The Siberian tiger is now snuggling. The Siberian tiger is very cute. This makes the Siberian tiger melt in cuteness.

The services and actions of Harbin people in various services and tourism projects are called the cute actions of the Siberian tiger.

6. The Runaway Princess of Hogwarts

These two memes were probably mainly invented by tourists, reflecting the tourism cultural psychological attribute of "finding unfamiliar culture in familiarity", which is the same as the famous Chongqing Hongyadong-Spirited Away.

Since Harbin is indeed full of Russian architectural style, tourists find the feeling and experience of a big IP in it: "As soon as I entered Harbin, I found that this is 'Hargwarts'," "I finally understand why Harry Potter's last name is 'Harry'."

The famous Hagia Sophia was "visualized" as a "European building suitable for the physique of Chinese babies". By putting on a Russian princess dress, babies can blend into the exotic customs and transform themselves into princesses. This gave rise to the story of welcoming the "Russian princess on the run", giving the "princess stalk" that has been popular for a long time a chance to come true.

The "runaway princess" meme originally came from Disney, but it has become popular again in Harbin because of its dual meaning, referring to both an exotic princess and the hospitality of treating tourists like princesses.

This makes the atmosphere of Harbin have both a strong fantasy culture and a very localized affinity. It is through such exchanges that Harbin becomes more than just Harbin, appearing more lively and family-like.

7. Transporting Mud from South to North

This joke is closely related to the invasion of tourists into the daily lives of Harbin residents, and major bathhouses have become popular "check-in spots".

The Northeast's bath scrubbing culture has always been famous. During this craze, according to statistics, the customer flow of bathing centers in Harbin doubled in December and continued to rise in January. Most of the customers came from the south. Some people dragged their luggage straight to the bathhouse, which was dubbed "Southern Mud and Northern Transport" by netizens. This also led to the legend that bath scrubbing masters from all over the Northeast rushed to Harbin for reinforcement, and the relevant departments came out to refute the rumor.

The "Nan Ni Bei Yun" meme is full of self-deprecation and is quite funny, so it has become one of the most popular memes among many.

8. Rock sugar

This meme is not the most influential, but it is very real and comes from tourists' food experience in Harbin.

Under the arrangement of "Everything can be sugared", tourists here discovered and tasted sugared sweet and sour pork, sugared spicy strips, sugared hairy crabs, sugared mantis shrimps... First, the appearance is curious, second, it is a different food experience, and it also formed one "challenge video" after another.

Behind the meme "Everything can be candied sugar" is the strange + familiar principle of meme creation.

To put it simply, the creation of each meme often comes from the familiarization of symbols for strange and interesting things. This meme is about the strange, fresh and interesting things on the streets of Harbin. It discovers the rock sugar that is familiar to everyone, especially southerners, and uses it to refer to them.

9. Cranberry

The popularity of the cranberry meme is both nonsensical and fully demonstrates that this craze is like a TV series that constantly innovates new memes.

The cause was that a group of 3-6 year old children from Guangxi came to Northeast China to study (they are the "little tangerines", detailed analysis will be given later), which triggered a new wave of high attention. In order to express gratitude, promote exchanges and promote specialty fruits, Guangxi Culture and Tourism sent a large number of real tangerines to Harbin for the people of Northeast China to taste. This can be called "tangerine diplomacy."

In return, Heilongjiang also gave cranberries produced in Fuyuan, which immediately caused the humorous people of Heilongjiang to complain: "I grew up without knowing that Heilongjiang produces cranberries..." This view immediately sparked a craze, and thus "cranberries" became a meme.

Behind this joke is the enthusiastic communication between the two northernmost and southernmost provinces of China, which promote each other and their own specialties. Therefore, this seemingly nonsensical joke actually has very rich connotations.

10. Southern Small Potatoes

"Southern Little Potatoes" can be said to be one of the most well-known and influential memes in this craze, in no way inferior to "Erbin".

According to our research, its development trajectory is as follows:

The term "Southern Little Potatoes" has actually existed for a long time. It is a secret name for tourists from the south in Northeast China. To be honest, it may have a slightly derogatory meaning when it was first created. However, with the unprecedented craze this time, "Southern Little Potatoes" has been mentioned repeatedly. It not only continues to be a nickname for tourists from the south, but has also become a nickname of intimacy amid controversy.

Some southern friends also expressed dissatisfaction with the nickname "Little Potato": "I'm 170cm tall, why do you still call me Little Potato!"

Northeastern people have a funny explanation for this: "There are always one or two big potatoes in a bag of small potatoes..."

The debate over whether "Southern Little Potatoes" is a derogatory term or a term of endearment is also growing, further fueling the term's influence.

Subsequently, Harbin Tourism Bureau’s official unit explicitly accepted this name, which appeared widely in various press releases and statements. According to reliable sources, Harbin Tourism Bureau is already designing the IP image of “Southern Little Potatoes”, which is apparently intended for long-term use.

This set a precedent for China's cultural tourism industry: for the first time, a cultural tourism area designed a nickname for tourists as an IP, while in the past it was just to create its own image.

Of course, as the popularity of "Southern Little Potato" grows, the controversy has not ended. For example, when Lao Xiaoge posted this news on WeChat Moments, some people still expressed concerns about whether the word was derogatory.

We would like to make four points in this regard:

First, no matter what, the "Little Potatoes of the South" have formed a broad consensus from north to south and are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, it is definitely much better to follow this momentum and make a fuss than to avoid it and pretend not to know.

Second, through official guidance and the efforts of experts, it can be elevated to a nickname for southern tourists used by people in Harbin and even the Northeast, because this word is figurative, vivid and popular.

Third, in history, it is not uncommon for some derogatory terms or ridicule to be transformed into one's own brand symbol. For example, Hunan Satellite TV's "Mango" came from the audience's ridicule, and Hunan Satellite TV accepted it with a smile, which made it seem more generous and tolerant. Another example is the American nickname "Yankee" which was originally a derogatory term from the opponent, but Americans accepted it with a smile and instead took the initiative to make "Yankee" the representative symbol of the United States all over the world.

Fourth, the people of Northeast China, who are good at making memes, can make the meme more interesting, richer, and more suitable for the current era of traffic centered on memes.

Therefore, what is important is the present and the future. The past can be inherited, the present can be changed, and the future can be better.

What's more, with the emergence of Guangxi's "small sugar oranges", the "Southern Little Potatoes" have been promoted to a new peak, and more regional nicknames have been spawned.

11. Small Sugar Orange

Even with the most objective assessment, these 11 "small sugar oranges" from Guangxi are undoubtedly the pinnacle of the Harbin craze.

Just as Harbin's tourism boom entered 2024 amid the carnival at the end of 2023, and just as people were still arguing over the "Little Potatoes of the South", eleven children aged 3 to 6, wearing bright orange jackets and yellow warning vests, landed at Harbin Airport like angels, immediately attracting the attention and enthusiasm of all parties.

They are really small and cute, and they have traveled thousands of miles from the southernmost province of Guangxi to the northernmost place to study. The contrast is huge, especially when the little angels push red suitcases that are almost as tall as them. This super cute contrast makes everyone who sees them fall in love with them.

As a result, they quickly became top stars without any controversy. They first left many cute photos during their trip in Harbin, then went to Mohe in the north and caused various interesting events. The live broadcast of the Mohe Fire Department attracted more than 23 million viewers. Then they went to Harbin Institute of Technology, Changchun and Yanji in Jilin, and brought this wave of craze to Jilin.

Their appearance also triggered a full-scale storm of cute kids.

People spontaneously started to give similar nicknames to tour groups of children from all over the country. Thus, within a few days, children from almost all provinces and cities were given the title of "small" + local specialty.

They even triggered "tangerine diplomacy" between provinces. First, Guangxi Culture and Tourism donated a large number of tangerines, which were transported thousands of miles to Heilongjiang by car. The live broadcast along the way attracted hundreds of thousands of people, and they received the highest etiquette reception from Heilongjiang.

Then, Heilongjiang returned the gift with cranberries, bringing a new "cranberry" theme. At the same time, there are more exchanges of local culture, tourism, specialties and commerce between the north and the south.

In addition to the popular and local craze, these eleven children have also been successfully reported on CCTV News and all authoritative media, and there is confirmed news that they will appear in the Guangxi Spring Festival Gala, and once again meet the little sugar oranges and the uncles and aunts from Northeast China...

The reasons for this huge craze can be summarized in two simple ways:

First, they happened to appear at the right time, from the right place, at the right age, and with the right symbolic image. It was an outbreak of the right time, the right place, and the right people.

Second, they can really inspire the most primitive, basic and universal love and care.

As a result, "little sugar oranges" have become the most eye-catching IP symbols in this wave of popularity, and have also become the most loving "meme".

Finally, let’s make a very simple summary:

Every hot topic that is widely spread has three elements:

One or more "stalks",

An easily transferable IP symbol becomes a social currency.

An emotional value point that makes people excited.

As IP people, we also sincerely hope that whether it is "Erbin", "Southern Little Potatoes" or "Little Sugar Oranges", they can continue to develop and they can really become evergreen IPs of China's cultural tourism.

Author: Chen Gray

WeChat public account: IP Fried Rice (ID: IPCOOK)