Industry Spotlight | Orders for cultural‑creative plush toys are booming! An auntie’s sewing machine has worn the trouser legs right through…

The plush toy industry, though seemingly tranquil, harbors boundless vitality and untapped potential. It serves as a warm companion on children’s journeys of growth, a heartfelt bond within families, and a distinctive vessel for cultural heritage. In recent years, driven by the rising confidence in national culture and consumers’ growing appreciation for emotional value, plush toys have evolved from mere commodities into vibrant intersections of emotion and culture. Particularly in China, the burgeoning cultural‑creative economy has infused this sector with fresh energy. From culturally inspired merchandise at scenic spots and museums to IP‑licensed products, the industry demonstrates remarkable creativity and expansive possibilities.

China News Service, December 4 (Lin Wanshi, Yan Shuxin) — At two factories in Heze, Shandong, and Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 300 sewing machines operate 15 hours a day to produce 30,000 plush toys. Meanwhile, the female workers operating these machines often see the outer edges of their trousers worn through after just about a week… This is the stark reality currently unfolding in the production workshop of Yangzhou Zhiduowa Toy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhiduowa Toys), a merchant on the 1688 platform.

Plush toys are a signature industry in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. Recently, China News Service’s Jingwei team visited Zhi Duowa Toys and found that, at present, it’s not just the factory workers who are busy—sales staff are hard at work as well.

Following the rise of plush toys as a new “top-tier” trend in cultural and tourism sectors, Zhi Duwa Toys now receives at least 20+ orders daily for culturally inspired plush toys from museums and scenic spots, with delivery schedules already booked through New Year’s Day 2025. Since the beginning of this year, the company has sold its plush‑based cultural‑creative toys to more than 60 museums and attractions nationwide. Here, even the “national washbasin”—the peony‑red Shuangxi washbasin—has been charmingly transformed into a plush toy…

Plush cultural and creative toys produced by Zhi Duo Wa Toys. Photo by Lin Wanshi, China News Service.

The Birth of a Plush Washbasin

“Orders for cultural and creative products from museums and scenic areas typically peak in the month leading up to national holidays,” said Kong Xiangpeng, general manager of Zhi Duo Wa Toys. With Christmas, New Year’s Day, and the Spring Festival just around the corner, the renewed enthusiasm for cultural and tourism experiences is set to propel a new wave of plush toys into the spotlight.

Kong Xiangpeng has observed that the plush products that have recently gained widespread popularity are increasingly grounded in everyday life, drawing inspiration from real-world objects and transforming them into plush toys that embody distinctive Chinese cultural symbols.

Among the order samples from Zhiduowa Toys, a plush washbasin measuring 30 centimeters in diameter and 10 centimeters deep stands out as particularly distinctive. Featuring the “double happiness” character in red, a peony motif with one petal in red and one in yellow, and a red trim, this plush toy is modeled after the washbasins that were an essential household item in China during the 1960s and 1970s—especially in Northeast China. Beyond washing one’s face, it could also be used to hold various items.

The plush red “Double Happiness” face basin toy produced by Zhi Duo Wa, photo provided by the interviewee.

Dai Min, head of toy sales at Zhi Duo Wa, told China News Service that this is one of the plush‑based cultural‑creative products the company received in October for scenic spots across the three northeastern provinces; the accompanying set also includes frozen pears, ice cubes, and red sausage.

“In 2023, the ‘Southern Little Potato’ tour of Northeast China became a hit, sparking a surge in popularity for Northeast‑style cultural and creative products. This year, our clients are exploring ways to innovate using Northeast China’s signature ingredients, so that visitors can not only savor local specialties but also take home related文创 items,” said Dai Min.

In fact, the DHS washbasin was not initially included among the cultural and creative products.

If tourists want to take home all these Northeast‑style “foods,” how can they do so most conveniently? At first, Dai Min considered turning the plush toys into keychains for visitors to hang on their backpacks, but that approach failed to highlight the region’s distinctive character. Later, after seeing in short videos that nearly every Northeastern blogger has a Hongshuangxi washbasin at home, he began wondering whether he could use such basins to package the “foods” and create a set that captures the essence of Northeast China.

“We had the concept, and we even had the design drawings, but translating those plans into a finished product proved most challenging when it came to faithfully reproducing the washbasin. In terms of manufacturing, basins made from plush fabric tend to lose their shape. At first, we considered using resin or PVC, but we still wanted to give plush a try. By refining the prototype through four or five rounds of revisions—each iteration fine-tuning the level of detail—we ultimately succeeded,” explained Dai Min.

Once the sample is finalized, the fabric must undergo printing, cutting, and sewing to produce semi-finished items. These are then turned inside out, hemmed, and shaped to become finished products, followed by quality inspection, packaging, and shipment—totaling eight steps in all. According to Kong Xiangpeng, once production is stabilized, more than 10,000 sets of Northeast‑style “food” toys can be produced each day.

At present, the sample set has been finalized to include two varieties of frozen pears, two types of red sausage, one ice cube, and one Hongshuangxi washbasin—six items in total. Dai Min stated that during price verification, the client plans to produce 10,000 units of each item; factoring in potential additional orders for New Year’s Day, Christmas, and the Spring Festival, he estimates increasing production to 50,000 units per item, bringing the total order volume to 300,000 units.

A sewing machine with a “colorful quilted jacket” at the corner. Photo by Lin Wanshi, China News Service.

After plush toys went viral, the seamstresses at Zhi Duo Wa Toy Factory wore their pant legs to shreds just to keep up with demand. The culprit? A hard plastic component beneath the sewing machine table—the corner guide. While standard sewing machines press stitches in straight lines, stitching for plush toys winds and curves; a gentle tap of the knee against the corner guides the needle along an arc. To reduce friction, the seamstresses would “dress” the corner in colorful “cotton jackets,” yet even that couldn’t prevent their pants from fraying.

Profit increased by 30% year over year.

Since the beginning of this year, plush‑style cultural‑creative products featuring scenic spots and museums—such as the Shuangxi Iron Basin—have accounted for roughly 35% of Zhi Duowa Toys’ total orders, making them the category with the largest share. In December alone, sales of these plush文创 items matched the level typically seen during two to three months in the off‑season, and December’s production capacity represented about 20% of the company’s annual output. For the full year 2023, Zhi Duowa Toys recorded sales of RMB 150 million. As of November 2024, the company’s profits have grown by approximately 30% year over year.

Kong Xiangpeng stated that in 2020, cultural and creative products from museums and scenic spots began to gain popularity, with the factory at that time able to handle 10 to 20 such orders per day.

Since the beginning of this year, Zhi Duo Wa’s plush cultural‑creative toys have been sold to more than 60 museums and scenic spots, including the Palace Museum, Lanzhou City Museum, Nanjing Museum, Xishuangbanna Scenic Area, Datong Tourist Area, and the Shanghai Planetarium.

“After the National Day holiday ends, we immediately start handling orders for plush toys tied to the New Year and Spring Festival. Right now, more than 30 museums and over 20 cultural‑creative and cultural‑industry companies have reached out to us for collaboration. As December kicks in, our order book essentially matches our production capacity—we can develop 20 new products every day. Many museums are racing to meet the twin surges in visitor numbers around the New Year and Spring Festival; one provincial museum, for instance, plans to launch 60 new items in December. I’ve advised them to prioritize the 10 designs most likely to become hits, so we can share resources more efficiently,” said Kong Xiangpeng.

Plush toys manufactured by Zhi Duo Wa Toys. Photo by Lin Wanshi, China News Service.

The plush toy industry is highly seasonal: winter is the peak season, while demand dips in summer, with June through August marking the off-season.

The three months leading up to the Spring Festival—typically November, December, and January of the following year—are the busiest period for all of Zhi Duo Wa’s toy factories. On the one hand, as the year draws to a close, corporate team-building events and other activities proliferate; on the other, orders for cultural‑creative products tied to the two major holidays—New Year’s Day and the Spring Festival—tend to concentrate during these same three months.

Kong Xiangpeng used museum‑themed cultural and creative products as an example, noting that demand for such orders typically peaks in the month leading up to a holiday. “We dedicate an entire month to concentrated production, while museums see explosive sales during the holiday period. Every time a holiday approaches, museums stock up heavily well in advance—often a full month ahead.”

As the 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games (hereinafter referred to as the Asian Winter Games) draw near, Zhi Duowa Toys has received orders for plush mascots, as well as home‑textile items such as eye masks, capes, hats, scarves, gloves, and bags. According to Kong Xiangpeng, approximately 70,000 to 80,000 plush mascot toys have already been shipped, with shipments expected to surge dramatically during the peak season.

Although plush toys may seem simple, their production process is quite complex, involving 11 distinct steps: creating design sketches, pattern making, fabric selection, cutting, sewing on a machine, turning the pieces right-side out, stuffing, and more. At the Zhi Duo Wa Toy Factory, under normal circumstances, completing an entire order takes 21 days before steady, scheduled shipments can begin. However, urgent orders sometimes arise, forcing all stages to be crammed into a single day—or even less.

Workers at the Zhi Duo Wa Toy Factory are rushing to produce plush-themed cultural and creative products. Photo provided by the interviewee.

“Our record was producing 200 plush toys within 24 hours. At the time, there was an event in Nanjing, and we were under a tight deadline—the organizers only contacted me the morning before, saying they needed a hundred or so plush toys. As soon as I received the order, I quickly mobilized my workers to stay up all night. By six or seven o’clock the next morning, we had finished and rushed the toys to Nanjing, ensuring they made it to the event on schedule,” said Kong Xiangpeng.

When faced with urgent orders like these, Kong Xiangpeng has his own tried-and-true approach, which he calls the “rapid‑response model.” “For instance, some museums have worked with us before, and we already maintain detailed records of their cultural‑creative products. So during production, we can skip the initial steps—such as drafting design layouts, creating prototypes, and selecting fabrics—and jump straight to sewing. As soon as each toy’s outer shell is stitched, a dedicated team immediately passes it on to the next stage. If they place an order today, we can ship 1,000 units tomorrow.”

During the off-season, Zhiduowa Toys develops seasonal products such as nap pillows, bolster blankets, air-conditioning blankets, and ice-silk lumbar supports, and also offers OEM services for foreign‑trade companies. In the summer, some enterprises host events and competitions that require the production of plush mascot toys, and Zhiduowa is able to secure a portion of these orders.

Why have plush‑based cultural and creative products become so popular?

Public records show that Yangzhou’s plush toy industry took root in the 1950s and has since grown into a well‑integrated manufacturing hub, with its export volume at one point accounting for as much as 95% of the national total.

The 2008 Olympic Games and the 2010 World Expo propelled the popularity of plush toys like Fuwa and Haibao, prompting many companies to approach Kong Xiangpeng for advice on producing Fuwa plush toys. At the time, there were still relatively few factories specializing in plush‑toy manufacturing, a fact that Kong Xiangpeng saw as a promising niche. After founding a gift‑ware company in Shanghai in 2013, he soon focused exclusively on the production and design of plush toys.

This year, the rising popularity of plush‑based cultural and creative products has once again strengthened Kong Xiangpeng’s confidence.

Kong Xiangpeng stated that the growing popularity of plush‑based cultural and creative products in museums reflects, on the one hand, national and cultural confidence, and, on the other, the emotional value of plush toys as companions.

“In the past, many people viewed plush toys as gifts for children, but nowadays, a growing number of adults are buying them too. With their material needs largely met, adults seek to fulfill their emotional and psychological needs as well. In today’s fast‑paced world—whether in daily life or at work—they look for companionship and comfort, and plush toys happen to provide just that. To use a popular phrase, these toys offer them ‘emotional value,’” said Kong Xiangpeng.

Behind the willingness to pay for “emotional value” lies a new consumption trend. According to McKinsey’s 2024 China Consumer Trends Report, 64% of consumers place greater emphasis on experiential and emotional spending, with younger consumers attaching even more importance to such expenditures.

According to a research report by the Zhongyan Puhua Industry Research Institute, China’s plush toy market has already reached a substantial size and continues to grow. In 2023, the global plush toy market was valued at RMB 63.93 billion, and the report forecasts that by 2029, the global market will expand to RMB 77.697 billion.

How can we ensure that the plush‑based cultural‑creative trend endures?

Kong Xiangpeng believes that, first, we must be adept at identifying and deeply exploring China’s traditional culture, telling its cultural stories in compelling ways; second, the design and production processes must be approached with care, imbuing each toy with life and soul rather than reducing it to a cold, impersonal piece of craftsmanship; third, we should continuously pursue innovation in content; and fourth, we must prioritize copyright protection.

“We continuously create and innovate, drawing inspiration from the rich tapestry of traditional Chinese culture. Particularly in museum‑based cultural‑creative products, the myriad antiques handed down by our ancestors are steeped in profound meaning. From them, we can unearth a wealth of aesthetic appeal—for instance, certain antique patterns lend themselves beautifully to plush toys, evoking an elegant, classical charm,” said Kong Xiangpeng.

(For additional reporting leads, please contact the author of this article, Lin Wansi: linwansi@chinanews.com.cn) (China News Service Jingwei App)

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