Xue Hua Piao Piao — Bald man in yellow robe singing outdoors in front of a snowy tree

Xue Hua Piao Piao

2020viral videoclassic

Published October 17, 2026

Xue Hua Piao Piao is a viral video of Chinese actor Zhang Ai-Qin, nicknamed 'Chinese Eggman,' spinning through heavy snow in a 12-second Kuaishou clip from January 2020 while humming the chorus of the 1983 Taiwanese ballad 'Yi Jian Mei' by Fei Yu-ching1. English-speaking users reposted it to YouTube and Instagram over the following months5, and by May 2020 the song's TikTok trap remix sent the ballad to the top of Spotify searches in Norway1.

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Overview

Edits typically match Zhang's rotating silhouette with Fei Yu-ching's cleaner studio vocals from the 1983 release, or run the melancholy chorus over unrelated footage of someone looking defeated5. Zhang's own clip runs 12 seconds, filmed on his phone from Beijing's Changping District, and he told Global Times he was simply sharing joy and happiness with his followers1. In the English-language versions, the phrase 'Xue Hua Piao Piao, Bei Feng Xiao Xiao' (literally 'snowflakes falling, north wind howling') works as an all-purpose caption for sad or absurd situations8.

A separate strain came from TikToker @spalding_, who on May 26, 2020 uploaded a trap remix of the Fei Yu-ching track and launched a trend of deep-frying the final frame of a joke on the beat drop4. Imitators replaced the standard punchline setup with a distorted zoom-in on the song's hook7. The 2010 Fei Yu-ching performance referenced in many edits had been online for years before viewers connected the audio to the Eggman clip through Instagram edits in late March 20205.

Origin & Background

Platform
Kuaishou / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
Zhang Ai-Qin
Date
2020

Before January 20, 2020, Kuaishou user zaq13520000789, better known offline as actor Zhang Ai-Qin, filmed himself rotating in Beijing snow while humming 'Yi Jian Mei' and posted the 12-second clip to the Chinese short-video platform5. Zhang began extra work in Beijing in 2009 after earlier jobs as a porter, bar waiter, and pole dancer in his hometown, according to a Global Times interview reprinted by CGTN1. On February 1, 2020, YouTube user Buhj mirrored the clip under the title 'Chinese man in da snow,' which gained over 69,700 views in three months2. A February 3 reupload by Haonslegne reached over 180,000 views3.

How It Spread

Early traction came from 'This Collab Needs to Happen in 2020' shitposts, which combined Zhang's clip with a December 2019 Instagram post by squidysgalaxy showing a wide-necked Kuaishou user5. A January 20 YouTube reupload gained over 1,500 views in four months6. On March 29, 2020, Instagram user _bluch_ overlaid Fei Yu-ching's original studio vocal onto the Eggman footage, and other Instagram users recycled the edit through April5.

Xue Hua Piao Piao broke onto TikTok, Instagram and Twitter in May 2020. TikToker @spalding_ uploaded a trap remix of 'Yi Jian Mei' on May 26 and earned over 641,900 likes within two weeks, kicking off a deep-fried-punchline trend4. Follow-ups from @yoloswagmia on May 28 (290,500 likes in 12 days) and @polo.boyy on June 2 (221,700 likes in a week) extended the format5. StayHipp wrote up the TikTok sound in a trend explainer the same month4.

The song also charted outside TikTok. According to CGTN, 'Yi Jian Mei' ranked as the most-searched song on Spotify in Norway and the second most-searched in Finland during summer 2020, 37 years after its original release1. Zhang turned down several movie and commercial offers that followed, saying he preferred his Kuaishou routine1.

Timeline

2020-01

Kuaishou user zaq13520000789 (Zhang Ai-Qin) posts the 12-second clip of himself spinning in Beijing snow while humming 'Yi Jian Mei.'

2020-02-01

YouTube user Buhj reuploads the clip as 'Chinese man in da snow,' gaining over 69,700 views in three months.

2020-02-03

A higher-quality YouTube reupload by Haonslegne reaches over 180,000 views.

2020-03-29

Instagram user _bluch_ posts the first widely-copied edit layering Fei Yu-ching's original studio vocal over the Eggman footage.

2020-05-26

TikToker @spalding_ uploads a trap remix of 'Yi Jian Mei' and launches the deep-fried-punchline trend, earning over 641,900 likes in two weeks.

2020-06-27

CGTN publishes a profile of Zhang Ai-Qin as 'Yi Jian Mei' tops Spotify searches in Norway and ranks second in Finland.

How to Use This Meme

Common convention is to overlay Fei Yu-ching's 1983 studio vocal of 'Yi Jian Mei' onto footage of someone looking sad, exhausted, or absurdly out of place5. On TikTok, the @spalding_ trap remix is often used as a punchline reveal: a creator sets up a joke, then the final frame deep-fries and zooms on the beat drop4. Both formats work without translating the Mandarin lyrics, since the song's mournful tone carries the gag.

Frequently Asked Questions