Meaning:
"地表" means "on the earth's surface," and "最强" means "best, most powerful." It's unclear who coined the term, but no doubt it is now frequently used by Chinese netizens and media. It's used as the Chinese title for "The Invincible" Jay Chou concert tour last year, and Chinese men's table tennis team coach Liu Guoliang called a training game among his teammates "faceoff of the most powerful 12 on the earth's surface" Feb. 11 this year. Most recently, Taiwanese singer Ella from the girl band S.H.E. released a hot dance MV for her new song "Me vs. Me" despite the fact she's nine months pregnant, which earned her the title "strongest pregnant woman on the earth's surface." Of course, Chinese basketball fans are more familiar with the term "most powerful 175 on the earth's surface," which is used to describe Celtics star guard Isaiah Thomas.
Example:
A: 为什么小托马斯叫地表最强175?
Wèishénme xiǎo tuōmǎsī jiào dìbiǎo zuìqiáng yīqīwǔ?
Why do they call Isaiah Thomas "the most powerful 175 on the earth's surface?"
B: 因为他虽然只有1米75，但速度快，技术好，三分球非常出色。
Yīnwèi tā suīrán zhǐyǒu yīmǐqīwǔ, dàn sùdù kuài, jìshù hǎo, sānfēnqíu fēicháng chūsè。
Although he's just 175-cm-tall, Thomas is fast and has got superb skills, especially good at three-pointers.
(First editor: Debra Li)