南方小土豆nán fāng xiǎo tǔ dòu

In their thick coats and hats, the southern visitors looked small and round next to the locals, so people called them 小土豆 and treated them as honored guests. The tourists picked up the name and used it for themselves.

The same winter gave Harbin a nickname of its own: 尔滨, the city’s name without its first syllable, used as a pet name.

小土豆 is still used for southern tourists in cold places, and for small people in thick coats. 尔滨 is mostly heard in winter news about Harbin.

Harbin’s Ice and Snow World opened on 18 December 2023. After complaints about long queues on the first day, the park apologized and gave refunds, and the response won people over. Over the next weeks, videos of Harbin’s welcome for southern tourists went viral, and 小土豆 first reached Weibo’s trending list on 26 December, according to a timeline by Red Star News.

Harbin had more than three million visitors over the New Year holiday, according to city figures. In early January some people asked whether 小土豆 was a stereotype about southerners; most people used it fondly.