Stirrings to make Chinese toys

The tremendous box office success of Chinese animation films highlighting Chinese culture including Ne Zha and Monkey King: Hero is Back in recent years has encouraged toy makers to experiment with toys by adding Chinese cultural elements to them.

"As China's soft power increases and the international community becomes more receptive to Chinese culture, domestic companies enjoy home advantages in developing toys representing Chinese culture," Cai said. "Alpha Group has made efforts to promote Chinese culture by incorporating Chinese elements into its animated cartoons. Which in turn could boost the development and sale of toys featuring Chinese cultural elements," he said.

Li Zhuoming, chairman of Guangdong Toy Association, too, deems it essential for toy makers to design toys that blend in Chinese cultural elements because "the story and unique culture behind a toy could help attract more customers". Citing the example of Guangdong Kurhn Toys, which has drawn inspiration from traditional Chinese culture to develop a series of dolls that have extensive Chinese traits, including facial features and dress, he said: "These high-end dolls sell pretty well in department stores in Shanghai and Nanjing and are especially popular among foreigners."

A search for toys with Chinese characteristics on JD.com, a major Chinese e-commerce platform, throws up about 24,000 results while Lego fetches more than 25,000 results, suggesting the long road ahead for Chinese toy makers.

Domestic toy makers could and should dig into the rich Chinese culture and make use of traditional patterns or concepts in their toys, as well as project traditional stories, culture and spirit, said Zhang Yiwu, a professor of Chinese cultural studies at Peking University.

Looking ahead, Cai said the rise of large e-commerce platforms including Alibaba, JD.com and Meituan, the booming internet economy, along with China's rapid development of cutting-edge technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence, might help Chinese toy makers to catch up with, even overtake, the leading foreign brands.