From OEM manufacturing to incubating domestic trend IP, the trendy toy company's first overseas launch sold out within the same day with dozens of boxes shipped.

Ask AI · What are the winning secrets behind the explosive debut of Chinese collectible toys going overseas?

EMMA Secret Forest Red Berry series by Yanchuang Culture.

Gululu series by Duolang Culture.

Lulu Ling series by Yanchuang Culture.

In recent years, Dongguan’s toy industry has been accelerating into a new “intelligent manufacturing” stage of high-quality development. Photo provided by the Shipa Town Education, Publicity, Culture, Sports and Tourism Office.

Editor’s Note

From the era-defining imprint of “Pearl River water, Guangdong grain, Lingnan clothing, and Guangdong appliances,” to today’s global breakout led by smart terminals, high-end equipment, cultural and creative trendy products, and green intelligent manufacturing—“Guang goods” have long shed the label of “value for money.” They are now achieving an upgraded leap from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing,” and from “following” to “leading.”

Right now, the “Guang goods go global” campaign is surging. As the core hinterland and innovation cradle of the Greater Bay Area, cities across the Pearl River Delta are writing their answers to industrial upgrading with batches of new “Guang goods” that blend technological feel, cultural flavor, and high quality.

Southern Metropolis Daily has launched the special report 《A Legend of New Guang Goods》, taking readers into the Pearl River Delta to uncover the industrial code behind new “Guang goods” and the stories of innovation—so that the global market can hear the era’s strong voice of new “Guang goods,” and so as to help the “Guang goods go global” campaign go deeper and deliver more solid results.

Just after the Spring Festival in the Year of the Horse, the production base of Dongguan Yanchuang Culture Development Co., Ltd. (hereafter “Yanchuang Culture”) in Shipa Town roared to life with machine noise. Several of the company’s original collectible toy designs were being boxed and packed for shipment to destinations around the world. Yanchuang Culture’s general manager Huang Boling joked, “Every day now we’re being催着 (pushed) by overseas customers to ship—our factories run at full throttle, but still can’t produce enough.”

Chen Xian, general manager of Dongguan Duolang Culture Creative Co., Ltd. (hereafter “Duolang Culture”), was deeply impressed by the fanfare of the company’s first overseas foray. “At the time, the dozens of boxes we brought were instantly sold out on the exhibition day.”

The stories of collectible toy companies like Yanchuang Culture and Duolang Culture are both vivid snapshots of Dongguan’s shift from “product going overseas” to “brand going overseas,” and a true reflection of the new era’s “Guang goods go global.” Dongguan collectible toys’ successful “comeback” is not accidental. Behind it are the creativity of collectible toy companies, the strong hard power of Dongguan manufacturing, the influence of traditional culture, and policy initiatives backed by unwavering effort. With these four forces moving in sync, collectible toys exploded into public view—allowing more people to see the stories of “Made in China” and Chinese culture.

From OEM to Brand Incubation: Chinese Chic IP Takes on Overseas Markets

The world of collectible toys looks to China; the world of Chinese chic collectible toys looks to Dongguan; and Dongguan’s collectible toys look to Shipa. Along Dongyuan Avenue, two major landmarks—the China Collectible Toy Capital · Collectible Toy Center and the China Collectible Toy Capital · Manbo (Comic and Manga) Center—shine like two brilliant “twin stars.” On this hotbed of Shipa’s collectible toy industry, they stand out. As the town with the largest collectible toy industry output value in Dongguan, and with the most collectible toy companies and independent brands, Shipa has gathered more than 400 collectible toy and toy manufacturing enterprises. Among them, the number of above-scale collectible toy enterprises rose from 20 in 2021 to 53 in 2025, a growth rate of 165%. What’s more, in just a few short years, Shipa’s total output value for the collectible toy industry increased steadily from 9.866 billion yuan in 2021 to 17.23 billion yuan in 2025, showing a strong momentum of development.

Behind the leap in numbers is a silent industrial transformation. Dongguan Fu Zhiyu Toys Co., Ltd. (hereafter “Fu Zhiyu”) is a participant in and witness to that change.

50,000 units sold for Catcat in the Year of the Dragon—becoming a breakout hit in Southeast Asia

Chen Xian, general manager of Duolang Culture, told reporters that in the early years, Fu Zhiyu had done contract manufacturing for the domestic original anime IP A Li (also known as Ali). And it was this adorable red little fox that helped Fu Zhiyu enter the supply chain of Pop Mart. In 2020, Fu Zhiyu became a contract manufacturer for Pop Mart, and orders from 52TOYS and Rolife followed one after another. Through collaboration with these leading collectible toy brands, Fu Zhiyu also discovered the value of original IP and its very high profit potential—and hoped to build its own IP.

“ We have our own designers, we have technology, and we have a team—so why not build our own original IP?” Chen Xian said. With that idea, Fu Zhiyu began testing the waters with original brands and the collectible toy track. “We adopt design concepts similar to rubber- plush, and we created the independent original IP ‘GANA Ga Na’.” Chen Xian told reporters that, adhering to the理念 of inheriting the national style and continuously innovating, in 2023 the company combined 《Classic of Mountains and Seas》 with collectible toys. After careful design and refinement, it released the national-style cultural and creative IP “Twelve Inheritance Beasts,” specifically the South Sea Butterfly series.

What Chen Xian didn’t expect was that these cute figurines dressed in traditional Chinese Hanfu, with charming forms, quickly sparked a market boom. In 2023, the 21st China Toy Association Exhibition (organized by the China Toy and Baby Products Association) was held in Shanghai. At this largest toy exhibition in Asia, the South Sea Butterfly series collectible toy products were highlighted for display. After that, Fu Zhiyu brought “South Sea Butterfly” to major exhibitions at home and abroad, engaging in communication and cooperation with overseas and domestic clients, and successfully pushed the Chinese chic IP onto the world stage.

“ In just a few short years, we’ve rolled out a number of popular original and co-branded IPs, including Gululu, South Sea Butterfly, Tu Tu Long Fantasy Creatures, and Catcat Dragon, among others—many of these products have been selling hot overseas.” According to the company, the currently popular Catcat Dragon IP series under its umbrella has already reached annual sales of 500,000 units, and has become a top-selling breakout hit in Southeast Asia. The Gululu series launched last October: in less than half a year since hitting the market, its sales have even surpassed the previous “breakout” Catcat Dragon series.

Overseas markets account for around 30% of total sales

On March 12 this year, at the “2026 Dongguan Collectible Toys & AI Toys ‘Canton-Style Trade Nationwide’ Production-Sales Matching Meeting” hosted by the Dongguan Toy and Baby Products Association, Fu Zhiyu, as one of the representatives of high-quality local producers in Dongguan, hosted a segment called “on-site factory inspections.” They received participating channel partners from across the country, platform buyers, and internet celebrity bloggers, drawing industry attention. “Channel partners could see our automated production lines and quality control system firsthand. They were very satisfied with our flexible production capability of ‘small orders with fast turnaround,’ which laid a solid foundation of trust for future cooperation,” said a relevant spokesperson from Duolang Culture.

Similarly, Fu Zhiyu’s first overseas resource matchmaking was supported by the government platform. Chen Xian still remembers clearly: in earlier years, Guangdong led a series of “Guangzhou trade globally” (粤贸全球) events, allowing companies to go overseas with relatively lower cost. To explore new development opportunities, Chen Xian and the team took the company’s original collectible toys to Thailand for exhibitions. He hadn’t expected much, but he was surprised that on the day of the event, the dozens of boxes he brought were quickly “snatched up.” That unforgettable experience made him realize that going overseas was not as hard as he had imagined—and that overseas acceptance of China-made products is still extremely high.

“ Nowadays, our original brands have already cooperated with mainstream collectible toy channels online and offline in China, and have successfully entered overseas markets such as Southeast Asia and Europe and the United States. Last year, overseas markets accounted for about 30% of total sales; in the past peak period, it could even reach around 40%,” Chen Xian said.

Firmly Building Original IP: Innovation Drives Collectible Toys to Break Through

At the headquarters of Yanchuang Culture, located in the Dongguan Collectible Toy Center, display racks are filled with original products such as EMMA Secret Forest, MISYA, and MIO Cat, among others. Looking at the dazzling array of exquisite figurines in front of her, Huang Boling can list them one by one.

Up to 10 million yuan invested per year to incubate new IPs

Speaking about how LUCKY EMMA became a breakout hit, Huang Boling said frankly that “we didn’t expect it. We were even worried that the first generation might not be too popular, so we didn’t dare to make too many.” She told reporters that the success of LUCKY EMMA is inseparable from Yanchuang Culture’s long years of accumulated experience in original IP development. “At the time, we saw that no one in the market had yet made collectible toys in a Lolita style, so we thought it was worth trying. The EMMA Secret Forest image was designed using a Nordic court style as the design prototype, and its form incorporates elements young people like. When the first-generation blind box product ‘Tea Party Series’ was launched, it received positive feedback right away. Monthly sales could reach between 5,000 and 10,000 sets. Just this single item sold 60,000 sets in 2020 alone.”

“ Since the company was founded, it has incubated more than ten IPs. Among them, more than ten have sales exceeding 10 million yuan, and three have surpassed 100 million yuan.” Huang Boling told reporters that for original IPs in local collectible toys to break out, the key lies in creativity. Especially after EMMA exploded into popularity, she became even more determined to build original IPs. “This is a creative industry. Consumer needs are constantly changing, and the collectible toy industry is also constantly upgrading. Consumers will only pay for great products. Only those that match the general public’s aesthetics, can create emotional resonance with consumers, and can deliver both emotional value and value-for-money will have a market.”

Huang Boling also said that Yanchuang Culture’s most core competitive strength lies in its IP incubation capability and innovation capability. According to her, Yanchuang Culture invests 5 million to 10 million yuan every year in dedicated budget, incubating 3–5 entirely new IP projects.

Traditional Chinese culture provides nourishment for original IP

In Huang Boling’s view, collectible toys are about continuously creating new demand. Products need to be combined with more ways to play in the new era, so as to create more needs for consumers. She also mentioned, “Trends are like a gust of wind—you have to respond quickly. Only by catching the most critical timing for production and marketing can you seize development opportunities.” This is also a key reason why Yanchuang Culture established its headquarters in the Dongguan Collectible Toy Center in 2024. “Shipa’s collectible toy industry belt is concentrated. The supply chain can respond quickly, and it can also produce with quality assurance and quantity assurance. This is extremely important for collectible toy companies.”

During the interview, Huang Boling also noted that currently the collectible toy industry as a whole is filled with “breakout anxiety” and “brand anxiety.” How to keep original IP alive and creative is also a real question facing Yanchuang Culture. In response, Huang Boling’s answer was “Build China’s original IP, and use collectible toys to tell Chinese cultural stories.” She told reporters that Yanchuang Culture always insists on drawing nourishment from traditional Chinese culture, aesthetics, and even philosophy, then translating it using contemporary design language and collectible toy formats. This requires that the team not only understands design and the market, but also has cultural depth and empathic ability.

Yanchuang Culture’s success also proves the viability of this path: original IP rooted in Eastern aesthetics can absolutely secure a place in the global collectible toy market and engage in dialogue with Western mainstream aesthetics. In 2023, Yanchuang Culture’s global通贩玩具 (distributed toy) category annual sales exceeded 15 million units, becoming an excellent overseas brand case for the Dongguan Collectible Toy Center. Currently, Yanchuang’s share in overseas markets is growing. The overseas-to-domestic sales ratio is even as high as 1:1. Annual sales are 100 million yuan in each. Its products are sold in 38 countries and regions including Southeast Asia, Europe and the U.S., and Australia, with global coverage of 20,000 physical stores.

Over Ten Million Yuan Invested in Support Every Year: ‘Collectible Toy Town’ Moves Toward a New Path of ‘Collectible Toy Innovation Town’

As collectible toy popularity rises and the concept expands, the global collectible toy market continues to grow, and Chinese collectible toys have entered a critical stage shifting from “product going overseas” to “brand going overseas.” Ma Chun’an, chairman of Dongguan Manchao Culture Creative Co., Ltd. (hereafter “Manchao”), told reporters that 2025 is a key turning point for Manchao’s overseas expansion. The company successfully brought its existing original IP Mico and Youbu out to the world and rolled out the market across more than 20 countries globally. “This year, going overseas is Manchao’s main task. We believe we have the potential to achieve over 100 million yuan in sales performance overseas.”

A 15-minute drive covers the full collectible toy industrial chain

To push companies to accelerate, policy also needs to be strong. Looking back, Shipa’s collectible toy industry development has been inseparable from local policies of “precise drip irrigation.” By opening the map showing the distribution of Shipa’s collectible toy industry, one can see that starting from the Collectible Toy Center, within a 5-kilometer radius and a 15-minute drive, there is a complete industrial chain covering “design—sample making—production—logistics—sales.” Companies come to Shipa with their drawings to find factories. From design to mass production, the average production cycle can be shortened by 20 days. Riding the momentum of policy support, Shipa Town has cultivated more than 30 self-owned brand companies and boasts over 120 original IPs. At the same time, it has established deep collaborations with international well-known IPs such as Disney and Marvel. A group of leading Dongguan collectible toy enterprises have gathered, including Chengshi, Langbowang, Manbo, Dapiangliang, Yanchuang Culture, and others.

Looking across the whole city, Dongguan—known as the “China Collectible Toy Capital”—in recent years has accelerated toward a new “intelligent manufacturing” stage of high-quality development in its toy industry. The city has achieved a leap from traditional contract manufacturing (OEM) to the rise of independent brands (OBM), and further into deep integration featuring “IP incubation + creative design + intelligent R&D.” The deep integration of the toy industry with technology and culture has spawned a large number of new-quality productive power brands that blend AI technologies and trendy creative ideas. Industry innovation momentum is strong. In 2025, Dongguan’s toy and baby products industry’s annual exports rose to 17.52 billion yuan, with impressive development results.

This year will further support key links such as AI design prototyping

Even more worth expecting, according to the “2026 China Collectible Toy Consumer Demand Insight Report” released by the Guangdong Toy Association’s Collectible Toy Branch, by 2026, China’s collectible toy market scale will steadily move toward the trillion-yuan level. As a “collectible toy town,” how can Shipa keep riding the wave? At this year’s “Collectible Toys China” new product launch (spring) ordering conference, Shipa Town Party Secretary Zhan Zhibin proposed that Shipa should push ahead from a “collectible toy town” to a “collectible toy innovation town” at an accelerated pace, striving to become a national hub for collectible toy resources, an incubator for Chinese-chic brands, a source of industrial innovation, and a destination for consumer entertainment.

In practical measures, “to make the industry more vibrant, Shipa Town invests tens of millions of yuan every year to support collectible toy companies. Last year, we added another 5 million yuan in support funds, covering the entire chain—from front-end design and R&D to back-end channel sales, brand promotion, and going overseas—so as to help companies solve their ‘worries about the future.’” A relevant spokesperson from Shipa Town Economic Development Bureau (Investment Attraction Coordination) said that this year Shipa will continue to anchor the “smile curve” development logic of the collectible toy industry, promoting quality improvement and upgrades across the industry. At the same time, it will strengthen ecological empowerment for collectible toys, focusing on companies’ core development needs and deepening support in key areas such as AI design prototyping, professional talent services, and cross-border going-overseas empowerment. It will continuously promote clustering of the industrial ecosystem, accelerating the formation of a complementary cooperative ecology and a rich-forms collectible toy industry ecosystem.

Expert Insights

**　　Concentrate Collectible Toy Design Talent and Build a Collectible Toy ‘Canton Fair’ for Collectible Toys**

“Dongguan has a lot of room to develop collectible toys. Nearly 85% of collectible toy products in China come from here, which shows Dongguan has a strong foundation.” Li Yingfeng, executive chair of the International Collectible Toy and Cultural & Creative Industry Alliance, said in an interview with reporters from Southern Metropolis Daily. “Going forward, as long as we keep pushing IP forward, and turn production capacity into selling capability, those IPs can better support Dongguan’s ‘Collectible Toy Capital’ brand.”

When discussing the difficulties Dongguan’s collectible toy industry currently faces, Li Yingfeng believes, “Dongguan is still at the bottom end of the ‘smile curve’—the production side. Investments in the design side and the sales side are still not enough.” He further proposed that “he who gets the talent gets the world.” Only by gathering collectible toy and design talent can Dongguan’s collectible toy industry have greater room to expand. In terms of the sales side, “I think there should be forms similar to the Canton Fair—large-scale events with collectible toys as the core theme—so that these procurement buyers and more industry people can come over.” Regarding the future direction of the collectible toy industry, Li Yingfeng said that it’s necessary to link more collectible toy IPs with clothing, cosmetics, household goods, and 3C products, and to integrate them into more everyday scenarios and IP story creation. Only then can the industry keep moving forward, and only then can IP continuously retain vitality.

Legendary Code

**　　To Make Collectible Toys Even ‘Trendier,’ Innovative Play Is the Key**

From plush toys in factory workshops to collectible toy breakout products sweeping the world; from the solid technical foundations accumulated through contract manufacturing to the thriving development of the collectible toy industry; from breaking out and getting “floods of attention” to brand going overseas entering a brand-new journey—Dongguan’s collectible toy story is precisely a true reflection of “Guang goods go global,” and also a vivid footnote to Guangdong’s industry upgrading, where quality is the strong driver and the new era demands strength.

In “Guang goods go global,” the long-ago proven and enduring ones excel not only in the excellence of the goods, but also in the depth of culture and the unceasing drive for innovation. Behind the breakout and out-of-the-circle success of original Chinese collectible toy IPs are not only the deep nurturing of industrial soil and precise policy “rainfalls,” but also the vital role of traditional culture injecting cultural vitality into emerging industries.

In the future, to make collectible toys even “trendier,” it’s essential to enrich cultural expression and innovate play styles. We believe that, with culture as the root and innovation as the core, new “Guang goods” represented by collectible toys will surely go farther, more steadily, and do even better.

《A Legend of New Guang Goods》special report

Planning: Liu Anran, Xie Jiangtao

Overall coordination: He Yonghua, Liang Jin di

Reporting & writing for this issue: Nandu reporter Huang Huiping

Photography for this issue: Nandu reporter Liu Mei (except credited)