The fast-approaching Chinese New Year festive season is a boom time for enterprises in Guangdong’s industrial cradle, Dongguan, where toy manufacturers are setting their sights on world markets. Zhou Mo reports.
At a bustling toy factory in Dongguan, Guangdong province, production lines ceaselessly churn out a range of horse-themed trendy toys for the upcoming Year of the Horse.
Four mascots catch the eye — Qi Qi, Ji Ji, Chi Chi and Cheng Cheng — that have been commissioned for the 2026 Spring Festival Gala, an annual celebratory event produced and to be broadcast by China Media Group on Chinese New Year’s Eve, Feb 16.
“We’ve teamed up with CMG which designed the mascots. We’re responsible for their production,” says Hu Haishan, assistant to the general manager and director of the toys trading project department at Dongguan Culture and Tourism Co.
The Dongguan-based firm has also developed 10 other horse-themed toy products, including plush toys, leather toys and refrigerator magnets that are tailored to capitalize on the festive atmosphere.
Dongguan, famed as the world’s manufacturing hub and China’s “capital of trendy toys”, has emerged as a key production base for horse-themed toys as the Year of the Horse nears, with enterprises like Dongguan Culture and Tourism swamped with orders.
“To meet huge production needs, we’re pulling out all the stops,” says Hu. “We stockpiled key materials early, refined production workflows to boost efficiency, optimized production line allocations, and adopted a two-shift system to maximize output.”
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The company’s 14 horse-themed products have been rolling out at seven factories across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, mostly in Dongguan, with 500,000 units expected to be produced. Most of the toys were completed last month and shipped out by Feb 5.
The products are being sold through multiple channels, including physical stores, pop-up shops, vending machines and railway stations. To enhance the Spring Festival travel experience, Dongguan Culture and Tourism and Guangzhou Railway Group are selling them via vending machines at five major transportation hubs, including Guangzhou South Railway Station and Shenzhen North Railway Station, as well as on trains.
The company is also “going global” in its promotion drive, with its first batch of 10,000 horse toys shipped to warehouses abroad last month for markets in Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe, and sold on the TikTok online platform. “We’ve stepped up internationalization since last year, focusing on Southeast Asia and the US,” Hu says.
“We will use short videos and live-streaming e-commerce on popular digital platforms like TikTok and Shopee as the main promotional tools for our products to generate four million yuan ($576,000) in overseas sales in the first half of this year.”
Heart of toymaking
Guangdong Hayidai Toys Co, also based in Dongguan, has launched six trendy toys for the Chinese New Year.
“Our production lines are running at full capacity and employees are working overtime to meet market demand,” says marketing director Huang Mei.
According to Huang, zodiac-themed products are the top money spinners, with some 2,000 to 3,000 such items shipped daily through offline channels. “After generating 20 million yuan in sales of zodiac-themed products last year, we expect 20 to 30 percent growth this year.”
Behind the exquisitely crafted products lies Dongguan’s unrivaled industrial prowess, churning out about a quarter of the world’s animation derivatives and nearly 85 percent of China’s toys.
The industrial city has formed a robust industrial ecosystem, with over 4,000 toymakers and some 1,500 supporting firms across the value chain. It was also home to 160 toy manufacturing enterprises above designated size — those with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan or above — as of 2024.
The sound industrial chain enables Hayidai Toys to control the entire production process — from research and development and design, raw material supply and mass production to packaging and quality inspection.
“Dongguan has a sound industrial layout, efficient industrial collaboration capabilities and professional craftsmanship standards that provide a solid industrial foundation and favorable conditions for our product development and manufacturing,” says Huang.
The city’s developed industrial chain not only shortens the cycle from product concept to market launch but also allows the company to respond more flexibly and quickly to market demand and industry changes.
“Prototyping, for instance, is an essential part of toy manufacturing. With numerous 3D printing firms in Dongguan, we can finish prototyping in just one or two days. This allows the entire toy-making process — from product development to commercialization — to be completed within a month,” says Huang.
Beyond manufacturing
As Dongguan builds up its industrial base, it is aiming to transform and upgrade its toy industry, shifting from low-margin original equipment manufacturing for international brands to high-value-added original design manufacturing, fueled by increased investment in research and development and original intellectual property creation.
To propel the upgrading drive, the local government has launched a package of preferential policies. It issued guidelines on accelerating the development of the toy and animation industries in August, covering 15 measures in five aspects — cultivating the industrial ecosystem, expanding markets, creating content, developing clusters and securing production factors. The authorities have set aside 120 million yuan to support the industry’s growth.
Wang Zhen, director of the Department of Regional Development and Planning at the Shenzhen-based think tank, China Development Institute, says he believes Dongguan’s toy industry needs to achieve three fundamental role transitions in its push to upgrade.
The first is to move beyond being a world manufacturing base to a global value chain leader, requiring industry players to strengthen IP creation and technological capabilities to build core competitiveness through “creativity-plus-intelligent manufacturing”.
Dongguan also needs to shift from being a production exporter to a global resource allocation hub, with the ability to allocate production internationally, manage compliance risks and integrate capital resources. It also has to transform itself from an industrial cluster to a global ecosystem center for businesses, talent and cultures to gather.
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Such efforts are essential amid rising global geopolitical tensions and tariff policy uncertainties that have clouded international trade.
“To mitigate foreign trade risks, Dongguan’s toy industry should focus on three key areas — market diversification, product differentiation and brand internationalization,” Wang suggests.
Instead of relying heavily on European and US markets, the industry should look to emerging markets, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he says, citing the regional grouping’s young population, cultural diversity and proximity to China as drivers of Dongguan’s toy market.
“For European and US markets, where consumers increasingly favor personalized products with cultural resonance, Dongguan enterprises have to improve design capabilities, integrating Chinese cultural elements with modern trendy designs to boost product premium and user loyalty,” says Wang.
He advises local enterprises to strengthen their overseas branding by stepping up localized promotions, opening offline retail stores and engaging with consumers through social media platforms.
Contact the writer at sally@chinadailyhk.com
