WARM-HEARTED residents swamped to buy potatoes from a Qinghai Province man in Longhua after a post went viral on WeChat about his potatoes being rejected by a wholesale wet market in Shenzhen, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    The 60-year-old man said that he was very grateful to the Shenzhen residents who helped him out of the tough situation. “I felt like I was sitting on a roller coaster over the past few days in Shenzhen,” said the man, surnamed Ma.

    Ma said that he had spent more than 16,000 yuan (US$2,353) to have the 32 tons of potatoes he had grown in Qinghai shipped to Shenzhen after making a verbal deal with a wholesaler in Shenzhen HiGreen Wholesale Wet Market early this month.

    “It took me four days and four nights to travel to Shenzhen in a truck with the potatoes,” he said, adding that it never occurred to him that his potatoes would be rejected for a “size reason.”

    He said that his family had harvested 40 tons of potatoes in August and sold 8 tons in Qinghai. He learned from his son-in-law that his potatoes could be sold for a better price in Shenzhen. His son-in-law introduced Ma to a Shenzhen businessman, who would sell Ma’s potatoes in HiGreen.

    After being rejected by the HiGreen wholesaler, Ma unloaded his potatoes near an industrial park in Guanlan, Longhua New Area, with the help of some Qinghai fellows Nov. 5. Ma had been stranded since then with the large amount of potatoes.

    According to the owner of a grocery store near the industrial park, Ma’s potatoes were selling slowly because there wasn’t much foot traffic in the neighborhood. “Some of his friends from Qinghai helped him contact people to buy the potatoes, but it hasn’t helped much as he has so many potatoes,” the store owner said.

    Things changed Monday when a WeChat post about Ma and his potatoes was circulated online, calling local residents to offer Ma a hand. Employees of several local companies drove to Guanlan to buy potatoes from Ma.

    A man who bought more than 5,000 kilograms of potatoes from Ma said that he was told by his employer to do so. “We don’t mind eating potatoes for every meal,” the man, who refused to be identified, said while he and his colleagues loaded the potatoes into a truck.

    Many warm-hearted residents also went to buy potatoes from Ma after reading the WeChat post Monday night.

    A resident near the industrial park who went to buy potatoes Monday night said: “The elderly man looks exhausted [after 10 days of trying to sell the glut of potatoes], so I bought some for me and some for my neighbors.” He loaded a few packages of potatoes into his car.

    Some residents who went to Guanlan to offer Ma help Tuesday morning found that Ma’s potatoes had already sold out. “It is true that they [the potatoes] were sold out thanks to the lovely Shenzhen residents,” Ma told a Daily reporter.

    Ma said that his family was worried about him a few days ago after learning that he was stranded in Shenzhen because of the potatoes. “Words can’t express my gratitude to those who came to help me out,” Ma said. “The journey from Qinghai to Shenzhen was the longest I have ever traveled. I was very impressed. I will go home tomorrow,” Ma said to the Daily reporter Tuesday. (SD News)