Novels and series whose plot takes place in the border region of Russia and North Korea explain this craze.
In the freezing streets of Harbin, in northeast China, clusters of tourists wearing hats adorned with pompoms and animal ears stroll, attracted by the same trend popular on social networks. Popular novels and series set in Dongbei, the Mandarin name for this region bordering Russia and North Korea, have sparked a craze among residents of southern China, with its good climate. softer.
These tourists are nicknamed the “little southern potatoes”an affectionate reference to their little figures wrapped up in eccentric and colorful gear to face the piercing cold, the mercury can drop to -30 degrees. “These people from the south, who we call ‘small potatoes,’ started coming and turned Harbin into a fashionable destination”explains Emily Liu, a local tourist guide, in the streets of the city.
This fever on social networks has been very beneficial to the tourism industry, confirms Jiang Zhonglong, gesturing a few meters behind a camera stand. This thirty-year-old has worked for three years for a travel agency based in Harbin, whose activity has skyrocketed since the end of the pandemic.
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One of the poorest regions in China
Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang, one of the three provinces that make up the Dongbei region. On the country's fringes, it is one of China's poorest provinces, surpassing only neighboring Jilin, the tropical island of Hainan, the western provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, and the less populated autonomous regions of Tibet. and Ningxia. But Heilongjiang is seeing its situation brighten: revenues from the culture, sports and entertainment sectors have jumped since the start of the year, up 60% from January to May compared to last year. , according to official data.
Tourists spent 154 billion yuan (20.2 billion euros) during the first six months of the year, according to the same statistics, an increase of 171% year-on-year. Social networks are largely responsible for this improvement: on the Xiaohongshu application, a Chinese social network, search “small potatoes from the south on a journey to the north” generates nearly 500,000 results.
It was on this platform that Chen Xiting, an e-commerce employee in the southern province of Guangzhou, decided to buy her tickets to the north. The 29-year-old noticed that she was not the only Cantonese on the streets of Harbin. “I hear a lot of people speaking Cantonese”whether “on tourist places or in the street”she explains, wrapped in thick clothes and wearing a hat with dog ears.
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Flow of visitors
On this December evening, a continuous stream of visitors strolls under the yellowish lights of Harbin's emblematic shopping street. A few steps away, a flock of visitors crowd into a store selling products from neighboring Russia. The number of pedestrians on the street has tripled since 2022, says the manager nicknamed Zhangzhang, who has worked in the neighborhood for more than ten years.
“My hometown suddenly became very popular”she says, telling herself “extremely proud”. Since last year, his store has sold more and more hats and scarves to “small potatoes” short of warm clothes, who love the floral patterns typical of the region. 'I believe all this can help vitalize Dongbei's economy'she concludes.
