Ｎｅｗ Ｔｏｙｓ，Ｎｅｗ Ｌｉｖｅｓ

Some US media thought that Chinas toy manufacturers might become the victims of the global financial crisis. Some others thought that a warning had been given to the Chinese toy industry. Therefore, the Chinese toy industry must accelerate its pace of reform.

How large is Chinas toy market? In 2007 the exports amount of Chinas toys reached 20.86 billion US dollars. 80% of the toys made in China are sold to the foreign countries. Only 20% are sold in China. From this we know that the sales amount of the toys in Mainland China was 15 billion yuan (USD 2.2 billion). In addition to the imported toys worth 880 million US dollars, the total sales amount of toys in China was more than 20 billion yuan (USD 2.93 billion). In the year of 2008, the growth rate of Chinas market saw a decline due to the financial crisis. But China was still the country which produced the largest number of toys.

Though there are 6,000 toy enterprises in China, it can not be said to be a toy power. The history shows that the center of world toy industry was transferred from Europe and America to Japan and then to Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the 21st century, the center was gradually transferred to the Pearl River Delta Areas of Mainland China. Most of the toy enterprises in China focused on the export processing. They do the contracting processing for Mattel Inc, Hasbro, Disney, Bandai and some other international toy giants.

From last year in which the product recall event, the subprime debt crisis and the global financial crisis occurred, some famous toy enterprises in Guangdong were closed. Chinas toy industry had to assume more stress. The Wall Street Journal once published an article titled “Chinas Toy Manufacturers Became the Victims of Financial Crisis”. The words “storm of closures” were shown in the reports of Chinas media to describe the status quo of Chinas toy enterprises. Some people even said that Chinas toy industry is approaching the collapse.

New Actions in Crisis

Ignoring the pessimistic tunes about Chinas toy industry, lets see some new phenomena concerning toys in China.

One: “Doll-raising clans” rise in cities

In recent years, there appeared the “urban doll-raising clans” in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and so on. In their eyes, the dolls are not ordinary toys. Lives are given to them. They call themselves as “dolls fathers or mothers”. The dolls they “raise”, though different in size and shape, shared the same name – Ball Joint Doll, with the same feature that all its joints are linked with balls, enabling this doll to make different movements like human. Currently, people mainly buy them from Europe, the USA and Japan through the Internet. Those dolls are made by hand; therefore, the price is usually quite high.

Those “fathers or mothers” not only buy clothes for their “children”, but also hold parties in which their “children” can find their “boyfriends or girlfriends”. A wedding ceremony between two dolls can also be seen. Those doll-fancies usually get together to show each other how they dress their “children” and share the experience.