https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/world/asia/labubu-china-cool.html Can This Not-Particularly-Cute Elf Make China Cool? China has long struggled to improve its image, especially in the West. It may be scoring some victories now. By Vivian Wang Reporting from Beijing Published June 16, 2025 Updated June 17, 2025 In China’s campaign to win over hearts and minds worldwide, its latest weapon is a fanged, bunny-eared, arguably quite ugly plushie. The grinning fuzzy toy, called Labubu, is made by a Chinese company and has become a global craze. It has in recent months been toted by celebrities including Rihanna and David Beckham; set off brawls among competing shoppers in England; and prompted overnight stakeouts in Los Angeles. It has even shaped the travel itineraries of some devotees, who have planned trips to China around hopes of buying one there. Resale prices for the roughly $30 figurine have run into the hundreds of dollars. “I flew all the way to China just to visit the BIGGEST POP MART STORE IN THE WORLD,” read the caption on a TikTok video by one vlogger from the Philippines, Lianna Patricia Guillermo, referring to the company that makes Labubu. (Ms. Guillermo clarified in an interview that she had visited the store during a long layover in Shanghai.) The enthusiasm over Labubu may pass like any other viral trend. But it could also be another sign that China, which has struggled to build cultural cachet overseas amid longstanding concerns about its authoritarian politics, is starting to claim some victories. Chinese state media outlets have sought to frame it that way. “The furry, nine-toothed elf created by Chinese toymaker Pop Mart has become a benchmark for China’s pop culture making inroads overseas,” said an article in People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece. Other Chinese products to find global followings include video games such as Black Myth: Wukong and affordable, well-made electric cars by BYD and other brands. DeepSeek, the Chinese AI model, has been adopted by tech companies overseas, including in the United States and Europe. Foreign travel bloggers have posted videos of themselves gushing about Shanghai’s skyline and Chengdu’s pandas. More niche offerings, like soapy Chinese period dramas, are finding audiences too. Patti Smith, the punk rock legend, has apparently left admiring comments on the Instagram account of a relatively unknown actor in one that recently debuted on Netflix. Polls also show changes in public opinion. An analysis published in May by Morning Consult showed that for the first time China’s global standing surpassed that of the United States, including among American allies. Even in the United States, where views of China remain overwhelmingly negative, the share of Americans with an unfavorable opinion of China fell for the first time in five years in March, according to Pew. Younger Americans in particular are less hostile to China. The shift may be in large part because global views of the United States have taken such a nosedive since President Trump’s second term began. Morning Consult said that American favorability had fallen far faster than enthusiasm for China had risen in that period. Given the “alarmingly isolationist turn of the U.S.,” said Ying Zhu, a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University who studies American and Chinese soft power, China looked “stable and steady in comparison.” But China has also been trying to build its soft power in its own right, alongside its economic and military might. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has said that the country should work to “reshape” the international conversation in China’s favor. Broader appeal in pop culture, or as a travel destination, would bolster its claim to being an alternative to the United States for global leadership. Within China, that effort has been successful. Many Chinese now turn to homegrown brands and stars instead of the Western ones they once idolized. Labubu dolls have sold out so quickly that some Chinese have taken to smuggling in dolls bought overseas to resell them. On Tuesday, a human-size Labubu sculpture sold at an auction in Beijing for $150,000. There are signs some overseas fans of Labubu are engaging more with other Chinese products. On Reddit, users swap tips for ordering dolls or outfits on AliExpress and other Chinese e-commerce platforms. They express concern about American tariffs on Chinese imports. After Sue Aw, 30, visited Shanghai last year from Australia in part to find Labubu dolls (they were sold out), she now wants to visit China again later this year. She wanted to see other cities, and to buy more of Chinese clothing brands she had discovered. Her friends in Australia have also “definitely seen China in a more positive light after the level of craze” around Labubu, she said. But for other Labubu lovers, the doll’s Chinese origins seem unimportant, or even pass unnoticed. (In fact, while Pop Mart is a Chinese company, the character itself was designed by a Hong Kong-born artist raised in the Netherlands.) In Western markets, Pop Mart has collaborated with Disney and Marvel. Some Chinese social media users have joked that the doll is so popular in the United States — where wraparound lines have developed at malls — because people there don’t know it is Chinese. For many Americans, the appeal of Labubu seems to be just as much, or perhaps more, about its ingenious marketing: its scarcity, its frequent use of “blind box” packaging, in which buyers don’t know which of several elves they will receive. Even so, the growing presence of Chinese companies worldwide is itself a form of soft power, said Huang Rihan, a professor at Huaqiao University in Fujian Province who has studied China’s messaging overseas. He pointed to how companies like Pop Mart, Tencent or Alibaba have hired employees of different nationalities, in offices all around the world. Professor Huang said that China’s biggest soft-power successes had come from young Chinese entrepreneurs having the freedom to engage globally and experiment. Pop Mart’s chief executive, Wang Ning, is just 33, and has said that he wants the brand to work with artists from around the world. “In the realm of culture, I think the government should loosen its grip,” Professor Huang said. Indeed, a bigger challenge for China’s soft power efforts may be how eager the Chinese authorities are to claim them. Repeated official calls to boost soft power suggest a belief that trendiness can be manufactured if the government just tries hard enough. Sometimes that eagerness can be merely cringe-worthy (a recent People’s Daily article called “What Makes China ‘Cool’” declared: “‘Cool’ is a term rooted in youth culture, typically associated with what is fashionable”) or propagandistic (China’s cool, another article said, came from “building a community with a shared future for mankind” — a slogan of Mr. Xi). Government involvement, whether real or perceived, can also be more directly off-putting. When a Chinese company promoted Wukong, the blockbuster video game, last year to overseas streamers, it instructed them to avoid topics such as “feminist propaganda” or the coronavirus pandemic — terms that the government censors heavily.
I like that How2Work and Pop Mart is getting so much attention. They make fun toys and I have a lot of friends that are deriving a lot of joy out of collecting and chasing. They’re not for me, but some of H2W’s toys, I think, are incredible(Ivy Style Boy). If they give people the same sense of happiness and fun I get with toys more power to ‘em. It’s been cool to see the lil’ outfits and accessories collectors are puttin’ on theirs.
I really don’t think they are as culturally important as the author claims. The popularity is rooted in celebrity use like many things. Lisa (probably the most important) and Central Cee have also fueled the flames showing their collections. They are cute I have bought a few for my daughter with a few more on the way. The idea of PopMart being a Chinese company has never crossed my mind (until it’s time to wait for the package) I guess it’s different because many of us on the board have watched them rise from a start up toy outfit to this level of success, and it’s very impressive. But I still view them as designer toys. But unfortunately like most things that get popular they kind of exist in a bubble and the attention isn’t trickling over into other facets of designer toys, which could be very beneficial to designer toys as a whole.
I thought it was dumb not to mention Kasing. Other than that... one big fishy can help lots of little fishies. At the thai restuarant down the street from me. I ended up making friends with one of the staff all because they collect popmart, saw some completely different enamel pin critter on my jacket, and struck up a conversation with me. I think she's at least my age (old) and is crazy for the stuff.
Labubu was totally off of my radar until I was talking with a retailer friend who told me about his struggles to stock some, and then I saw that costume pop up at one of the No Kings rallies last weekend. The Times article is interesting to me because I don't see a lot that's novel about Labubu. The design feels like a hybrid Teletubby/Booska with kind of a sinister look to it. And Japanese companies have been doing blind box figures for decades, even if modern ones are manufactured in China. Anyway, I know I'm not the target audience, and I guess a rising tide lifts all boats. There are American artists in on the blind box game and if they can get their products into the same space as Labubu, so much the better.
All the Labubu in this auction sold for over 20k with the highest fetching over 30k. Sorry izumonster, you’ve been dethroned by the fuzzy elf. https://www.joopiter.com/auctions/s...rX5YoiFJE_lRM4ANvQ_aem_rivVsvoShexuzZstUhMYsw
They are popping up everywhere! Lots of ladies dangling them from their purses, dining in posh cafes. I saw 3 today. Not really my taste, but it's good to see adults with toys. Apparently Louie Vuitton makes different outfits you can buy for your dollie. I have a feeling that when these are no longer considered status symbols, they'll go the way of Beanie Babies.
Without a doubt. But, IMO, they are quite a bit more fun to look at than BBs...or Funko Pops, or, or, or.
I don’t know, businesses have gotten much more savvy now and we are seeing franchises and properties retain popularity across decades and generations now. These will either go the way of Beanie babies or Labubu will find new ways to entertain (maybe Netflix shows or something) and hold popularity for years or much longer. Who knows, maybe when our kids are adults these big into energy and macaroon blind boxes will be like G1 Transformers.
Ooh, charts! https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/21/us/labubu-doll-plushie-pop-mart-dg With all of these major media outlets covering it, Labubu is definitely having a cultural moment.
It’s great to see Kasing Lung get the bag. I hope he can turn the monsters books into cartoons and build on the momentum that the popmart toys have brought to the IP. Hopefully it will bring new collectors and excitement into what we do.
Perhaps. My wife has been pretty into Labubu for a while, and she just made me watch a video tour of...Labubu World? I dunno what it's called. But it was such an obvious cash grab. The...performances?...were not even half-assed. They made Katy Perry look semi-professional. The entire theme park seemed to exist solely for the gift shop. Don't get me wrong - I'm not hating. I think they're pretty adorable. But best case scenario I see is Angry Birds level of success. Which might make them as sought after in the future as Furbys are today? I also just learned that a k-pop star is largely responsible for their popularity. Which makes total sense in retrospect given what little I know about k-pop fans. I'm not at all sure how that impacts their future popularity.
I'd be happy with Furby levels of success, lol. I love Fuby's, it's my favorite toy of my daughters. And the fur use along the plastic face, ears, and feet triggers Shelterbank vibes. They just started making new ones a few years ago and they have pretty fun interactive features. We do Furby dance parties almost every night. Now they have little digital furby charms similar to labubu size. They are only around 10 dollars and interact with the larger Furby. Fun stuff.
I'm hopeful Kasing has a world of characters that have a lot more life in them than a plush keychain. Entertainment companies will definitely collaborate with him as they have with medicom for a bearbrick cartoon. I think his characters have a lot more depth to explore.
I've honestly never heard of Labubu till I started seeing social media making a big deal out of it. They kind of remind me of these very old 1970s toys when I was little. They are cute but I am just enjoying watching people collect them. I am curious in the long run if it will crash like beanie babies.
