When Wang staged a toy show in Shanghai in April, he was impressed by the number of enthusiasts who turned up.

The three-day exhibition attracted about 30,000 fans from cities nationwide. To buy some rare editions, many set up tents on the street and lined up four days before the show opened. Police were worried about security as people lined up through the night, Wang said.

"Designer toys are still new on the mainland. The market is huge and promising," said Wang, 31, who started in the business just four years ago.

At the Beijing show, the most expensive items sold were a limited edition from the Coarse brand of two life-size figures with giant shark heads by German artist Mark Landwehr, who runs a workshop in Hong Kong. They cost one fan 120,000 yuan.

In the late 1990s, the launch of limited edition chic action figures by Hong Kong designer Michael Lau triggered a craze among the young.

Comic-strip illustrators, graphic designers and advertising agencies joined in, making their own figures. They included designer Eric So, whose chic dolls resembled his hero, the late martial arts star Bruce Lee. The designer toy craze then spread quickly to Japan, South Korea and the West in the 2000s.

Wang said: "The quick development of designer toys in China can be partly attributed to the fact that there are many toy factories in the country. These factories accept small orders from designers who only make limited editions of less than 100 toys at relatively low cost."