Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

From Grassroots Performance to Urban IP: The Media Generation and Communication Logic of Changchun's "Snow Cake Monkey"

Wei SongNortheast Normal University*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

"Snow Cake Monkey" is a performative role played by Wang Qingfeng who graduated as a dance student and worked at the Changchun Zoological and Botanical Park in early 2024. It was first presented in a short video released by the personal self-media "Wang Tiezhu". Later, due to the incident that tourists feed snow cakes to him but he complained the snow cake 'too dry" and it triggered an emotional reversal and large-scale secondary spread, it quickly became widely known and evolved into an important cultural tourism symbol in Changchun. This article takes "Snow Cake Monkey" as a typical case to explore the transformation mechanism of this grassroots IP into an urban cultural symbol. The study found that its emergence was not accidental. It is based on grassroots performances. After dramatic events broke out, multiple subjects collaborated to complete symbol upgrades, and finally realized the transformation of traffic into cultural tourism consumption. At the same time, the construction of Changchun's urban image also showed a change from a single official dominance to a multi-subject interaction. It should be pointed out that this path has certain reference significance in terms of structure, but its specific content is still affected by factors such as individual characteristics, contingency of events, and regional differences, making it difficult to simply replicate. Therefore, local cultural tourism development and city brand building still need to be based on their own conditions and explore local expression methods.

Keywords: snow cake monkey; urban IP; changchun; cultural tourism integration; media communication
Published: May 6, 2026
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2026.BJ33261
Volume: CHR Vol.108
pp. 185-193
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