You're listening to Roundtable, I'm Nihon Lin, joined by Steve and Yu Shen.
Some say stuffed toys are just for kids.
Yet, a new trend shows that adults also love these fluffy, plushy and furry objects.
I mean, who can blame them when you get to hug a huge stuffed cheeseburger?
Let's discuss what's behind the food -themed toys craze, and what makes young people so enchanted by these squeaky delicacies.
And after that, we'll go directly to Roundtable's happy place.
But now... Get ready for a delightful mush -up of cuddly toys and tasty treats.
A lot of toy bands including Jelly Cat are inspiring cities, people living in different cities like Gansu, Suzhou, Shanxi, and Fujou across China.
They are turning their beloved local foods into adorable plushies.
Picture a smiley rho jiamuo, which is a Chinese meat sandwich kind of thing, or waving Suzhou crab that is quite fluffy and huggable.
Fluffy? Yeah, they can be...
We know crab do not have fur, but if it's a plushy toy, it can.
So, Ushun, would you hug a huge rho jiamuo, for instance?
That is a hard question to answer.
I can give it a bite.
If it is good -looking enough, I mean, I'm not a big fan of these squizable or huggable plushy toys, but I definitely saw the popularity of these toys are increasing in China here.
So, you know, it is kind of a...
When we're talking about this company or plush toy company, Jelly Cat, this is offering a huge sensation here in China because they're...
Jelly Cat is one of the examples that are really confusing me, to be honest, because they are, of course, with high quality, and they're toys, and they're expensive.
I mean, why are people loving these kind of toys?
Let's use Jelly Cat as an example.
Well, first we should talk about what that company is, in case people don't know.
It's a British toy company, and they make these little plushy toys that people seem to love, and globally they have cities like New York and Paris and London, where they've opened up pop -up stores under this theme, and they incorporate, and I think from a business point of view, this is a really smart
thing to do, they incorporate local specialties like American hamburgers or British fish and chips or French macaroons.
And here in China, you mentioned a couple of the local delicacies.
Yeah, the crabs or rojamo.
So what they do is they make little plushy toys out of, well, not out of those foods, but they make them to look like those foods, and they make them in a very cute way, and people just fall in love with it.
And what I saw, or what I heard is that they are just making some daily items, not only food, but also some gadgets that you can have in your daily life.
Just put some little emojis on these things, and then people think they're cute.
Well, maybe. Sometimes ugly cute.
Depending on your on your spending.
Yeah, it is so popular, and I saw that according to some reports, the sales revenue exceeded 1 .3 billion yuan in 2022, with an average transaction price per item ranging between 300 and 400 yuan.
That's about 42 to 50 US dollars.
Yeah, it's expensive.
Yeah, it's even expensive for some areas that is quite developed.
Yeah, no doubt. And in the meantime, not only are we looking at this trend of major, basically global, toy brands doing this.
Actually, there are also people on the internet, they're making toys, hand -making, handmade toys, and toy, independent toy designers here in China, are also basically hugging or embracing this trend of transforming everyday item and food into toys.
We are looking at, for example, revival mayonnaise.
This is a creator focused on Cantonese dim sum series plushy toys.
And also we have Da Tong, which is a city in the province of Shenxi, a city in the center of China.
They are their cultural creation department, or it's an independent company.
They are making the kind of toy that are inspired by a certain kind of Buddha figure.
And also we're looking at a lot, actually a lot of different of these toys.
And one very funny thing that also Jelly Cat is doing is that one, the plushy toys are food themed, they would do this make -believe process of cooking the food.
The food or the beverage.
So for example, if you buy a little plushy toy latte, it looks like a latte.
And then the service person will ask you, would you like it hot or cold?
And then you can answer with how hot you would like it.
And then they prepare your latte to look like a real latte complete with some playful packaging.
The thing that sets this company apart, perhaps from some other plushy toy companies that are out there, is the customer experience, I think of being in the store, right?
You get this very almost theatrical experience and it just adds to the value of the overall experience, but also to the value of your purchase as well.
It's something that people can put on their, and they do their social media.
They'll talk about the experience with their friends and then their friends and family.
They're curious. They'll go and check it out as well.
From a business point of view, it's a really, really fun and creative and smart thing to do.
Oh yeah. You know, what's the most ridiculous, excuse me, creative thing that I've seen about this plushy toys.
That is, one time I encountered a little shop, I think in the Hootone area of Beijing, they are making spicy hot pot plushy toys.
And they would ask you what kind of meatball would you like to have?
What kind of cabbage?
Different types of vegetable would you like to have?
And they would dip them, quote unquote, dip them in the sauce and then put them in the pot and then give you the entire pot of everything.
I mean, for me, it's a bit too childish, but I have to say this is getting love by a lot of people, especially a lot of adults.
What are these adults thinking?
Well, I think for children, there's many reasons why they like plushy toys or just toys in general, teddy bears in general, they get that emotional comfort, a sense of security.
It helps them feel safe in unsafe environments or unfamiliar environments or just in general, stressful situations.
For adults, it's that sense of nostalgia.
It allows you to be a kid again.
You know, when you're an adult and you live in Shanghai or Beijing or other big cities around the world, you wake up in the morning, you're stressed, you go to work, you're stressed all day.
At what point in time during any day of the week, do you really have an opportunity to feel like a child?
So when adults have this opportunity and then you connect it with this theatrical experience that adults can understand what's going on.
It's silly. It's a bit of fun, but they really enjoy it too.
These plush toys are not, not, not just for kids.
Adults are buying these up too.
Actually, there is even a word, a kid doubt.
It is an adult whose interests or media consumption is traditionally seen as more suitable for children.
It can also mean a parent who acts childish when with their children, but does not make on their duties as disciplinary.
And so I think yes, we all need a moment.
Maybe with the society or the work asking us, requiring us to act more and more responsible, we do need to find a little bit of friction of our time every day to cater to the needs of our inner child.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
Sorry, Tintra, do you think that these are reasonably priced?
When I were chatting before the show.
Yes. Well, I just say it.
I don't think so. And why?
Is there an example that you can think of?
I know what you're doing, but yeah, I'm going to explain this.
So we know that these kind of brands, they are trying to say, okay, we're using high quality materials when we're making toys.
We tried to make this sustainable and safe enough for especially kids so that they can no matter your hugging it, squeezing it, or even biting it is safe enough for you.
Of course, these kind of materials can be expensive, but is it can be that expensive when we're speaking of just a little bit, maybe keychain to cost you around 100 run.
So of course they're adding values by giving you or providing you with these kind of services that package in it with a real motion or experience of giving you a real latte.
But still, can that kind of experience worth that much?
I think at least as adults or when you're buying this, when you think it is worth it, then of course you can and when and you can afford it, you can buy it.
But when we're discussing really the value of all of these services and products, I think we still need to think by ourselves when, is it affected by social media and you just like, these kind of experience that your friends are having, or you really want that kind of comforting that these cashiers
are giving you. So, I think this is the thing that I'm thinking.
I'm going to disagree with you because I think that it's not an investment per se, but it's spending money on something that provides you with happiness and emotional comfort.
Emotional added value.
Yeah, because if you look at somebody who's in two video games, then they might spend a lot of money on one video game, and that video game can only be played for 100 hours, and then you'll never play it again.
Well, you've spent a lot of money for that 100 hours only.
Is that game going to provide you with emotional value after you're finished with it?
No, not at all. But this emotional plushy toy, the emotional value you get from that, could go on for a year or two or five or 10 or 15 years depending on how long you keep it.
And if the quality of the product is really, really good, as they say it is, it's going to last for a long time.
And that might be something that you could pass down to a family member at some point in the future.
It could be argued that the money is better spent on a plush toy than it is on something like a video game.
So based on your observations so far, because we've already talked about, some of them are with really high quality.
They can provide emotional value.
Somehow they are even some of these plush toys are actually collectible.
So with all that factors and one of the most important ones, that is more and more people started to admit and accept the fact that they enjoy cutesy stuff.
So do you think this trend is here to stay?
Or it is just a trend that will go away after two or three or five years?
If it goes away from the plushy toy trend, it'll just manifest itself somewhere else because humans love cute babies.
When you see a little baby and you're so cute, you want to squeeze it, cheeks like that.
There actually is some psychological reasons behind these, you know, human just like cute things.
When you're seeing these things are maybe with big eyes, big face, little mouse or big, everything that you think can be cute and people will have that kind of sense of protecting it and they will love it and they will make human will produce that kind of dopamine or something like that to make you
feel happy. And then that is how you biologically like cute things.
Yes, so it's science backed, right?
These doll designs, it's not done by mistake.
They know exactly what they're doing when they design these in a way.
It's to appeal to the cuteness factor that human beings love.
So to answer your question, will this trend continue?
Maybe, maybe not, but if it doesn't, it's just going to find another place to be popular.
Yes, by integrating some social factors or blind box factors or some other immersive experience.
Yes, maybe this is going to stay for a really long time.
Or the AI plush toys.
What's the Elon Musk connection to plush toys?
Any idea? Maybe putting some chips in my brain so that when I'm not hugging it, I feel like I'm hugging it.
Well, good guess, but no.
That's a guess. It's a very loose connection.
His former partner Grimes, the singer Grimes, if you've ever heard of Grimes, she has collaborated with a plush toy company to create AI plush toys.
I was watching a video on how these work and children can converse and learn with their plush toys.
It's basically like having chat GPT inside your little toy.
You ask it a question and it can answer it for you.
One of the toys actually is named Grock, which is the ex or Twitter chat bot's name.
They share a child together by the way, Grimes and Elon Musk.
There's no connection between those two things, but apparently, yeah, that's the name of one of the toys.
I think it's not that new.
Since I was a child, there are toys like little fluffy dogs that can talk to you.
Yeah, these kind of things.
But maybe with the technology enhanced and we can see the core of these fluffy toys can be talkable and then you can actually communicate with these kind of toys and they can give you back some information that a kid maybe not necessarily or not necessarily need.
Because when you're talking to a machine that can actually analyze what you are seeing and give you back replies, that can be quite dangerous.
I was too expensive.
What were you thinking?
And also, it buffles me when I think that maybe one day my kid is going to talk to a rojiamo, a flushy rojiamo.
That's a bit weird for me.
Anyways, you're listening to Roundtable coming up next.
Happy place. Don't go away.
Delivery. Delivery.
Delivery. What is it?
Happiness from Roundtable.
It's Roundtable with myself, Niel Hong -Lin, Steve Hatherly and Yu Shen.
And here we are. Roundtable's happy place.
The things that are making us happy or have made us happy for this week.
Yu Shen, what is your thing that you want to share with us?
Oh yeah, my happy place is the place called National Center for the Performing Arts.
That's a real place.
Yes, it's a great place.
NCPA. I watched a one -woman play featuring Chinese actress Xin Juele.
This play is called Prima Feshi, if you've heard of it.
The play, originally written by Australian playwright Susie Miller and it's originally starred by British actress Jodie Comer.
It is a play that revolves around a criminal defense barrister who experiences a shift in her perception of the legal system after becoming a victim of sexual assault.
First of all, the performance style of this play is incredibly novel to me.
I've never seen a one -person performance before.
Me too. I was shocked because on the stage, it got to be one person for a whole two -hour show.
The whole stage of the design was just incredible and I was truly amazed by this actress Xin Juele.
She performed alone for over two hours, I said, memorizing so many lines.
Yeah, right. And some of the lines could be so fast and also with so many professional terms in laws and legal systems.
But what I have to say is that despite having only one person on this stage, her tightly -woven dialogue combined with the set design and narrative of the environment kept me fully engaged throughout the whole play and I didn't feel bored at all.
And in fact, I wanted to keep watching.
Wow. That's really impressive.
I mean, these days, it's hard for a movie to hold an audience's attention for two hours.
So for one person to be able to do that on a stage, that's really impressive.
And that's a testament to how talented that person is, that actress is.
Exactly. And also about the content of this play.
I think the Chinese version is quite good and it is reflecting so good through the whole original plot.
And, you know, Zhou Guo, who is the director of the Chinese version of this drama, said that the significance of the play goes beyond the play itself.
I wish more people would bravely stand up to support those who have experienced sexual harassment after watching it.
And, you know, I don't want to reveal too much about this plot, but I feel that, you know, whether the audiences are female or male, most audiences can empathize with the main character and the storyline as it unfolds.
And this theme is truly meaningful for the whole society and even the whole world.
Was she playing multiple characters, by the way?
Yes, of course, because you need to mainly herself, but you need to tell the audience that I am doing a scene that with multiple characters.
Oh, OK. So oh, so it's the audience they let the she let the audience know.
Yes. Oh, interesting.
You need to let the audience know.
Otherwise, audience will be confused with only one person.
Yes. So is the show still on?
If people who want to catch the show, can they?
The play, I think they only play for a couple of days.
But I noticed that the original version is also released in movie theaters domestically.
So I really recommend that anybody who's interested in this kind of thing or this show to go to see it.
Here we are. Something that has made you happy.
And hopefully, if you're interested, can make you happy as well.
Whoever's listening.
So, Steve, how about you?
What is your happy place?
When you move to a new country and you're experiencing a new language and that language has characters that are unrecognizable to you, ordering things online can be labor intensive because you have to screenshot every this is what I've done.
I've taken about a million screenshots in the last couple of months since I moved to - For what?
Since I've moved to China for translation.
So when I'm trying to order something online, then I'll go to the thing that I want to buy or the menu.
I'll screenshot it, then I'll open it up in the translation app, and then I'll go back to the original app and then I'll hit the buttons.
But if I forgot where one thing was, then I have to go back to the translation and check again.
Okay, those days are over.
My happy place these days is the Wai Shen Translate button in WeChat.
O -M -G. If you are an expat living in China listening to this and you're not familiar with this, you need to know because this is an absolute game changer.
I ordered a coffee this morning.
I had no idea I could get an extra shot ordered in my coffee, but there it was.
Translation. I was like, yes, please.
Thank you very much.
No, this is great news.
On a personal level, it's fun and it's going to make my life easier, but this is really wonderful for people who are traveling to China, who are only going to be here for a short amount of time.
This is just a wonderful thing too.
My happy place came from this morning when I put that to use.
Especially for these kind of super apps, you can do so many things on one app, not only the app like WeChat or Wai Shen.
We have so many apps like this.
And now with these kind of functions, you can use these kind of mini program to order things, even use coupons.
Because I assume that you never use these kind of coupons when you are just translating these things into English through another app because you cannot know there is an option like that.
So, yes. I don't know.
Wait, could I change my happy place?
It's about coupons now.
Yes. And they provide you with the choices of if you get, for example, a product that worth two more yuan, you can get a five yuan coupon.
So yes, you need to really need to know to actually use them.
And then the part two of my happy place is directly related to that because every week I'm learning something new and that might be language related, it might be geography related, it might be convenience related, but I'm feeling slowly but surely just more and more integrated into my new home.
So that's the that's the other part of the happy place, I guess.
Yes. Finding something new, finding something making your life a bit easier would definitely provide us the sense of happiness.
And that is what's happening to me, to my life as well.
Recently, I have been quite busy with multiple tasks.
It's like doing the show is definitely one of the best part of my work.
I also have to do many other things and encounter many other challenges, which sometimes would I'm not going to say it's driving me crazy a bit, but to definitely add up the stress level of my every day, which leads to my happy place, a little book called The Little Book of Com.
It has sold over two million copies currently around the world.
And it actually, well, one review described it as the first and still one of the best books aimed at counteracting stress.
The book has been translated into 24 languages, including Italian, French, and Mandarin Chinese.
And in the book, it is a pocket size book, it's almost a fit a grown man's hand.
It's really just tiny, portable, very portable.
You can take it actually in the first page, the writer says, I'm written, I've written this little book to be a on hand comfort to you, carry it with you to steal moments of peace and tranquility at any time in any place, you can actually take it.
I am leaving it on my desk.
And whenever I feel like I'm a bit too stressed, I would go into the book because in the book, every page contains one little quote, a little suggestion or a little tip that is designed to help you lower your stress level and gain a little bit of happiness.
Do you have an example?
Yeah, I was gonna say, do you have an example?
So there is this one, I think it's a little tip, it says be captivated by your breath when you dwell on the sound of your breathing, when you can really hear it coming and going, peace will not be far behind.
So this would be a little tip when you feel like you need a moment of calm, you can try to focus on your breathing, and also waste some time.
A recommendation, hardworking people never waste time on favorites and fun on fun filled activities.
Yet for hardworking people, any time spent this way is far from wasted.
It encourages you to, you know, waste a little time and gain a little bit calm.
Does it recommend that you do it right in that moment?
Yes. Oh, so that's kind of interesting.
So when you open up the book, and it says on the page, go waste some time, you waste five minutes, then you're just meant to go do nothing for just go do something or nothing.
But what I can see is that actually, they're just telling you, take a break, or just take a deep breath, but being a way of very soothing and practical and something you can just actually follow you smoothly reading it out, it can make people feel comforted.
Yeah, what do you do?
Just sorry, very quickly.
When you go waste five minutes, I'm curious, where do you go?
What do you do? I never follow that one.
I would have five minutes to waste.
I can focus on my breathing.
And hopefully, for those of you who want to find a little calm in your life, or need that little tiny little bite size break, you can go read the book as well.
And that brings us to the end of today's roundtable.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on today's topics.
Leave us a comment or send us an email to roundtablepodcast at qq .com.
Until next time, keep the conversations going and the ideas flowing.
I'm Yolng Han -lin with Steve and Yoo Shoo.
Thanks for listening.
