南方小土豆

What does 南方小土豆 mean?

Harbin in deep winter: the arrivals hall is full of visitors from the south in brand-new puffy coats that reach their ankles. 南方小土豆 is the affectionate nickname that greeted them: tourists from southern China travelling to the frozen northeast, above all to that city. It plays on how small they look beside northern locals and how they waddle around bundled in coats and hats, like little potatoes. The term usually travels with 尔滨, a cutesy name for Harbin, and both recall the over-the-top hospitality locals poured on visitors that winter. Tourists happily apply it to themselves, and it reads as warm rather than insulting.

Where does 南方小土豆 come from?

Over the winter of 2023–24 Harbin turned into one of China's hottest travel destinations, and locals and southern visitors alike started using 南方小土豆 as a fond, teasing label. Some accounts trace part of it to an earlier viral video in which a man introduced 'little southern potatoes'. A few people found the nickname slightly mocking; plenty of locals answered that it was meant with affection.

How to use 南方小土豆

• 一群南方小土豆第一次见到这么大的雪。
  Yì qún nánfāng xiǎo tǔdòu dì yī cì jiàndào zhème dà de xuě.
  A bunch of little southern potatoes seeing snow this heavy for the first time.
• 尔滨的出租车司机对南方小土豆特别热情。
  Ěrbīn de chūzūchē sījī duì nánfāng xiǎo tǔdòu tèbié rèqíng.
  Harbin's taxi drivers are extra warm to the little southern potatoes.