HANGZHOU, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Right at the most bustling intersection beside West Lake, one of China's most iconic cultural landmarks, Pop Mart has opened its largest flagship store in the country.
Long before the doors opened on Saturday, eager crowds had already snaked through the Hubin Yintai in77 mall in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, to get an early look at the new store.
"I got up early to get the Twinkle Twinkle flying chess. I arrived at the store by 8 a.m., but there were already over 100 people ahead of me," said a local resident surnamed Du.
The latest events unfolding in Hangzhou are a microcosm of a broader phenomenon sweeping across China: the rapid rise of a homegrown IP economy. By blending traditional culture with the emotional economy, these IPs are also becoming incredibly popular around the globe.
FASHION MEETS LOCAL CULTURE
The Hangzhou flagship store embodies this cultural fusion.
Spanning over 1,000 square meters across three floors, the flagship store weaves the whimsical world of Twinkle Twinkle, one of Pop Mart's most beloved IPs, into the poetic landscape of West Lake.
It's a place where trendy toy culture mingles with local stories, creating an experience that feels both magical and uniquely tied to the city.
"By anchoring the IP in the city's cultural landmarks, we add narrative depth to the character while establishing a cultural presence beyond retail," a Pop Mart staff member said. "Pop Mart is using IPs as a bridge to deeply integrate trendy toy culture with the charm of the local cultural characteristics."
Tang Weiru, an official with the commerce bureau of Hangzhou's Shangcheng District, said this "brand plus local culture" model perfectly aligns with the current emotional economy boom.
Tang noted that the Hubin commercial district has been actively cultivating the IP economy, accelerating the shift from traditional retail to immersive, emotion-driven consumption.
Policymakers have also encouraged integrating traditional culture into contemporary consumer products. A government action plan released in 2025 called for incorporating Chinese cultural elements into original IP brands and expanding markets for domestically developed cultural products.
MARKET BUILT ON FEELINGS
Behind this commercial boom lies a deeper driver: emotional logic. For many young Chinese, these IPs are not merely products, but sources of companionship and healing.
Take YuY, a gentle, long-haired girl created by a young Chinese artist, as an example. Unlike typical commercial IPs driven by the blind-box phenomenon, YuY evolved organically from online illustrations and stickers into a cultural phenomenon.
The creator, in her 20s, said she began drawing the character in early 2025. "I've always drawn what I love, for instance, plants, animals, freedom and exploration. There wasn't much deliberate design behind it," she said.
Yet, the character strikes a real chord with fans. A recent YuY pop-up store at Hangzhou Center drew over 100,000 visitors in nearly two months and generated more than 5 million impressions on Xiaohongshu, a lifestyle-focused social media platform.
The mall finds a perfect match in YuY -- her healing image, popularity, and the exclusivity of her first-ever exhibition in Zhejiang, said a staff member of Hangzhou Center, noting that the mall has focused on emotional needs and trendy preferences of young consumers since its opening in 2023.
The IP's core philosophy -- "We are born as free winds, unfinished yet complete jade" -- has struck a chord with a generation seeking authenticity over perfection.
"Young people today face a fast pace of life and work. YuY's soft, healing image and the gentle life attitude it conveys can effectively relieve anxiety," said a young white-collar worker.
Economists say the trend reflects a deeper shift in China's economy, from buying things to buying experiences. China's per capita GDP rose from 10,000 U.S. dollars to over 13,000 dollars between 2021 and 2025. As basic material needs are largely satisfied, consumption begins to shift toward emotional and psychological fulfillment, said industrial observers.
This IP development is riding China's emotional consumption boom. The iiMedia Research projected that China's emotional economy would exceed a valuation of 4.5 trillion yuan (about 665 billion U.S. dollars) by 2029, almost double its value in 2024.
Policymakers have also taken note, with a plan released in January calling for the development of new growth areas in service consumption, including "emotion-driven and experience-based services."
Regions including Hubei, Jiangxi and Chongqing have even incorporated terms such as "emotional value" and "emotional economy" into their government work reports to encourage consumption this year.
GLOBAL APPEAL
The wave of the emotional economy is not only surging in the domestic market but also propelling Chinese designer toy brands onto the global stage.
Pop Mart's 2025 financial report highlighted this momentum, showing that "The Monsters" series, featuring the wildly popular Labubu, has become a world-class IP with revenue reaching 14.16 billion yuan, a year-on-year surge of 365.7 percent.
This global traction is backed by growing awareness. A report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) this year revealed that 74 percent of global respondents had heard of Chinese IPs, with trendy toys achieving the highest recognition rate at about 91 percent.
What really stands out is that China's unique culture could actually give it an edge, making it more of a strength than a barrier.
BCG's report noted that while some IPs succeed globally through an "internationalized narrative," others retain core Chinese elements while integrating universal themes like beauty and kindness, turning cultural distinctiveness into commercial strength.
"Chinese designer toy IPs have triggered a global consumption boom because they convey emotions and cultural sentiments that resonate with consumers worldwide," a Pop Mart executive said. "For young people, they are not just entertainment, but a way of self-expression and a form of social currency."
This craze is part of a broader trend in which overseas consumers are actively embracing Chinese lifestyles. From drinking hot water to wearing house slippers, many are moving from simply observing to actively practicing elements of Chinese culture.
This growing cultural affinity helps explain the global appeal of Chinese IPs. A July survey by the Pew Research Center found that a median of 46 percent of respondents across the 20 countries surveyed annually since 2023 held a favorable view of China, up from 32 percent in 2023.
Xia Xuemin, a researcher at the Institute of Public Policy of Zhejiang University, said that the future of Chinese IPs on the global stage will depend on improving content quality, balancing cultural uniqueness with universal appeal, and optimizing global commercial layouts to convert awareness into sustained consumption. ■
