In early January, Hebei's Xiong'an New Area was in the grip of the coldest period of winter, with temperatures plunging to minus 10 degrees Celsius. Yet, the trading of plush toys at the Light Textile City in Liangmaitai Town, Rongcheng County, was bustling with activity. As the year-end approaches, it is the peak supply season for plush toys, and the thousands of plush toy enterprises within the Light Textile City are busy fulfilling orders for the upcoming Year of the Horse Spring Festival. From afternoon until the early morning hours, a continuous stream of delivery vehicles of all sizes comes and goes. Here, a complete manufacturing industrial chain enables a plush toy idea to progress from concept to mass production in as little as three days.
The Light Textile City is a prime example of the development of the plush toy industry in Liangmaitai Town, Rongcheng County. Since the 1980s, Liangmaitai Town has been engaged in the processing and production of plush toys. Today, it has become a national trade and distribution center for plush toy products. The county accounts for 80% of the domestic market share, with annual sales exceeding 12 billion yuan, and has created employment for over a hundred thousand people in the surrounding areas.
It is understood that the Xiong'an New Area has recently initiated another upgrade for the traditional plush toy industry, aiming to build a toy intellectual property (IP) hub for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The plan involves linking animation character development with plush toy manufacturing to promote the integrated development of "cultural creativity + manufacturing + science education" in Rongcheng County.
From small workshops at the outset, the industry has now undergone significant upgrades. Custom-made pony dolls for the Year of the Horse, special designs created in collaboration with major IPs, and plush toys ranging from keychains smaller than 5 centimeters to life-sized dolls—walking through the Light Textile City, almost every store displays a variety of plush toy designs. "If it's a plush toy, you can find it here," Xue Ying, a product marketing staff member at Hebei Haifa Toys Co., Ltd., stated. The goods flowing through here daily are shipped not only to surrounding cities like Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei but also to southern cities such as Yiwu and Shenzhen, with many businesses even operating internationally. The area has established a complete industrial chain encompassing the development, production, and sales of plush toys.
"Many of Rongcheng County's plush toy enterprises started from 'workshops'," said Tao Xi, Director of the Rongcheng County Bureau of Commerce and Investment Promotion. Liu Ping, with over a decade of experience in plush toy production, is the General Manager of Qianya Group in Rongcheng County, Xiong'an New Area. As the head of one of the county's larger enterprises, Liu Ping has witnessed the entire upgrade process of Rongcheng's plush toy industry. Having grown up in Rongcheng County, Liu Ping was surrounded by relatives and friends who made a living from traditional plush toy production. In 2008, he started his own business, entering the plush toy industry. "Initially, it was just a few family members making samples and selling them at a stall in the county's morning market. If a customer placed an order, we would make it to spec," Liu Ping recalled. He spent two or three years running the stall before accumulating enough client resources to gradually grow the business. He admitted that the profit margin for imitation plush toys was very low, with only a few to a dozen yuan profit per finished product.
How can one break away from the low-profit, limited-appreciation model of imitation plush toys? The answer lies in original creation. A decade ago, Liu Ping resolutely embarked on the path of developing original plush toy designs, a decision that has proven correct. "High-quality products are generally well-received by the market and have strong longevity," he noted. Over the past ten years, Liu Ping has focused on independent development, prioritizing quality as the most critical standard. "We hire our own designers to create plush toy images and actively collaborate with professional graphic design studios to develop original characters. Our company proudly displays copyright certificates for hundreds of original plush toy designs," Liu Ping said. While original creation brings higher profits and market recognition, the entire industry's awareness of copyright protection is also 'awakening'. It is understood that over a hundred original character applications for authorization are submitted daily within the Liangmaitai Town Light Textile City.
"While focusing on original creation, we also recognized the immense difficulty in turning our own original characters into major IPs with significant traction," Liu Ping remarked. Addressing this reality, he explored a new development path: collaborating with established "big IPs". Around 2020, Liu Ping actively reached out to major IP brands, successively signing production and sales licensing agreements with over ten high-traffic IPs, including Crayon Shin-chan, Boonie Bears, GG Bond, and Sprout Bear. A plush toy based on the Boonie Bears IP, designed by Qianya Group, was even featured at the 2025 International Fashion Week held in Beijing. "We not only cooperate with traditional big IPs but also work with popular web animation brands. For instance, we obtained authorization from Beijing Panda Xiaodi Guo Culture Media Co., Ltd. for the web animation 'Panda Banbu' and are responsible for producing and selling its related plush toys," Liu Ping added.
Collaborating with major IP brands has not only expanded the company's market reach and increased profits but has also broadened sales channels for its own original brands. "We enjoy working with big IPs. However, they also impose higher demands; the risks are significant if execution is poor, potentially leading to increased inventory," Liu Ping revealed, acknowledging substantial setbacks during initial collaborations with major IP companies. He pointed out that previously, product quality and design specifications only needed internal approval before market launch. But working with big IPs requires satisfaction from both the manufacturer and the copyright holder, a process that can be very protracted. He cited an example of a foreign IP company with extremely stringent quality control, which demanded that the patterns on a cat plush toy have zero deviation, with each stripe measured precisely for length. This led to a nine-month review process for their first major IP project. "The initial license was only for one year. By the time the products were manufactured, the license had nearly expired. We didn't earn anything and were stuck with heavy inventory, forcing us to renew the license for another two years," Liu Ping lamented, describing it as a sobering lesson.
Driven by a spirit of innovation and exploration, over more than a decade, Hebei Qianya Toys Co., Ltd. has transformed from a "family workshop" into a group enterprise employing over a thousand workers, owning two independent brands, and operating multiple production branch factories. The company's production capacity has increased tenfold, and its output value has surged nearly twentyfold.
Following the establishment of the Xiong'an New Area, new requirements were set for the upgrade of Rongcheng County's plush toy industry. In 2022, the Xiong'an New Area Party Working Committee and Management Committee issued the "Implementation Plan for the Transfer and Upgrade of Traditional Industries in Hebei Xiong'an New Area," supporting enterprises in integrating technologies like artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, the internet, and blockchain into R&D, design, production, management, and service processes. The plan involves industry-specific actions to enhance traditional industries through "AI+," developing intelligent creative products and encouraging innovation in plush toy design, presenting new challenges for the industry's transformation.
Liu Ping and other plush toy manufacturers in Rongcheng County keenly recognized that "AI upgrade" represents a new imperative for the traditional industry. Liu Ping began exploring the AI plush toy market. "Currently, we are cooperating with several AI companies in Beijing. They develop the AI chips, and we manufacture the plush toys around them," he explained. Moving even faster is Xiong'an New Area's Rongcheng County Haifa Toy Company, which independently developed the nation's first AI toy, "AIKids," in 2024. The debut featured 16 original IP characters, with the toy integrating 66 functions, including human-computer dialogue, one-click chatting, psychological detection, health management, and early childhood education companionship. "We spent nearly three years exploring. The team dedicated eight months and invested over 2 million yuan to establish a specialized R&D company that developed a card recognition system. When a card is brought near the toy, it can read Chinese characters, tell stories, and even speak English. The company now holds three invention patents, two utility model patents, and over 30 art copyrights," introduced Xue Ying, Product Marketing Staff at Hebei Haifa Toys Co., Ltd.
"I want to create toys with vitality, companions that feel like family. Only through intelligent technology can the toy industry grow alongside Xiong'an," said Zhang Qingli, Founder of Haifa Toy Company and President of the Rongcheng Plush Toy Association. As an early pioneer, Zhang did not stop at the "AIKids" 1.0 version but developed versions 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 within just over a year. Version 2.0 added multi-touch interaction, where the toy might say in a childlike voice, "It's too high, I'm scared," when lifted, becoming an interactive partner. Version 3.0 introduced a dedicated AI agent, with early education experts designing scenario-based Q&A to help children navigate developmental challenges. Version 4.0 features a "quarrel mode," turning the toy into a "stress-relief buddy" that helps users vent emotions through playful banter.
Product breakthroughs are driving industry transformation. Currently, over a dozen toy enterprises in Rongcheng have entered the AI toy sector, building more sustainable competitive advantages. "Embracing the AI tide gives toys vitality and makes our traditional industry more vibrant," Zhang Qingli stated.
A solid industrial foundation and continuous innovation have established Rongcheng as a national distribution center for plush toys. But how can Xiong'an truly cultivate its own major "IPs"? The Xiong'an New Area is planning a comprehensive industrial upgrade strategy focused on animation and gaming IPs. Last November, Xiong'an hosted the "2025 Xiong'an · Rongcheng IP Industry Development Conference and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei AI-Empowered Animation Derivative Products Cooperation Matchmaking Event." Co-organized by the Rongcheng County Committee, Rongcheng County People's Government, the Xiong'an New Area Bureau of Commerce and Investment Promotion, the Beijing Animation & Game Industry Association, and the Beijing Digital Creative Industry Association, the event attracted over 80 domestic and international IP companies, including Kumamon, Astro Boy, Sanrio, GG Bond, and Meng Lan. They engaged in face-to-face negotiations with hundreds of Rongcheng plush toy manufacturers, facilitating precise connections between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei IP owners and Rongcheng's production capabilities.
It is understood that 23 company pairs reached preliminary licensing intentions at the event, with 11 enterprises planning to introduce IP design teams. "In the past, we had to travel to Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou to find IPs. Now, we can connect with top-tier IPs right at our doorstep, with copyright services as a safeguard!" exclaimed one Rongcheng toy factory owner enthusiastically. Liu Chungang, President of the Beijing Animation & Game Industry Association, explained that the event allowed numerous Beijing-based animation and game companies to gain a comprehensive understanding of Rongcheng County's plush toy industry and its full-chain production capacity for IP peripherals. "Several companies confirmed cooperation intentions on the spot," Liu Chungang said. "Xiong'an possesses the full-chain production capability for plush toys, while Beijing has the advantage in animation IP resources and talent. The combination will become a new engine for Xiong'an's plush toy industry development and provide production capacity support for Beijing companies innovating and manufacturing IP peripherals. In the future, our association will strive to facilitate cooperation between the two sides, making animation IPs the new engine for Xiong'an's plush toy industry."
At this conference, Xiong'an systematically presented its planning and construction progress, industrial support policies, and other aspects of its high-quality business environment, demonstrating its "sincerity" by simultaneously unveiling two platforms: the Xiong'an Rongcheng County Animation & Game Industrial Park and the Beijing Animation & Game Industry Association's Xiong'an Copyright Service Center, inviting enterprises and talent from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to settle in Xiong'an. "The Xiong'an Rongcheng County Animation & Game Industrial Park is located in southern Rongcheng County, covering 50 acres. In the future, it will gather animation and game IP enterprises, focusing on IP derivative R&D and business incubation, becoming a 'physical hub' for connecting Rongcheng's plush toys with IP resources. In terms of services, the Copyright Service Center will provide full-chain services including copyright cooperation registration, protection, and authorization, lowering the threshold for SMEs to collaborate," explained Tao Xi, Director of the Rongcheng County Bureau of Commerce and Investment Promotion. He added that Xiong'an will create a development environment with dual support: "space + services."
He also revealed that this year, Xiong'an aims to establish an integrated development ecosystem within the industrial park encompassing "content creation - product manufacturing - market promotion," set up an "Animation & Game Industry Integration Service Center," implement a "Xiong'an Animation & Game Industry Talent Database," a "Investment Resource Connection Platform," and an "Archive for Landed Project Progress." Follow-up resource connection services will be provided to settled enterprises, creating a model of "industrial integration + talent aggregation + investment promotion" to ensure development opportunities for businesses and talent. Huang Zhimin, Member of the Xiong'an New Area Party Working Committee and Secretary of the Rongcheng County Committee, stated at the conference that combining Rongcheng's traditional manufacturing strengths with Beijing's IP resource advantages will further establish the county as a key hub for the animation derivative industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Rongcheng County will adhere to the philosophy of "welcoming, reassuring, and enriching businesses," offering the best policies, platforms, and services to deeply integrate IP elements with local specialty industries, deepen government-school-enterprise cooperation to cultivate IP professionals, position Rongcheng as a significant node in the global IP network, and inject "Xiong'an strength" into the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei animation culture industry.
"Xiong'an New Area's proximity to Beijing offers geographical advantages, a complete technological innovation environment, and a well-developed plush toy industrial chain, all providing technical and industrial support for animation and game companies. The lower cost of living and commuting in Xiong'an creates a relaxed environment for startups and employment in creative industries like animation and games," stated Liu Chungang, indicating strong interest from some Beijing-based companies in locating to Rongcheng County. A relevant official from the Rongcheng County Bureau of Commerce and Investment Promotion introduced that Youxin Yiqu Studio has already registered in Rongcheng County, planning to launch related games this year and build an IP promotion platform and a trading system for collector-grade cards. Nordic Myth (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. plans to establish a cultural experience center and a company training base in Xiong'an. "We expect to move to Rongcheng County in the first half of this year and are currently finalizing relocation details with the relevant county departments," said Tang Yan, General Manager of Beijing Tangcai Culture Co., Ltd., whose office is located in Beijing's Chaoyang District. The first batch of over 30 key staff members will relocate to work in Hebei Xiong'an New Area. She explained that the decision to move to Rongcheng was based on a comprehensive consideration of regional advantages and business development needs. "Xiong'an New Area offers substantial policy benefits, high resource concentration, and a government service brand known as 'Rongcheng, Rongcheng, where things get done easily,' creating an excellent business environment."
The company focuses on animation and comic series (manju) business. Besides traditional production processes, it is using AIGC technology as a core engine to build an industrial closed loop from IP creative incubation and industrialized content production to derivative monetization, collaborating deeply with many leading platforms. "Currently, with the integration of AIGC technology into our operations, we need to expand and relocate our production capacity. Rongcheng's industrial policies恰好契合需求 perfectly meet this need. The base we are about to move into has strong connections with the local traditional plush toy industry. We can leverage our advantages in cultural creativity and AIGC technology to promote the transformation of plush toys from 'OEM processing' to 'original design + branding,' upgrading OEM toys into original cultural and creative products and revitalizing the old industry," Tang Yan mentioned. She added that the next step involves relocating the content production capacity department, core R&D team, post-production sound department, including relatively large-scale motion capture studios and recording booths. The company plans to collaborate with local talent policies and partner with local or nearby universities to train new digital talent as reserves, jointly building a cultural enterprise with Xiong'an characteristics. "By the end of this year, we expect our workforce in Rongcheng County to reach around a hundred people."
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