Festive Rush Ignites Production Frenzy in Teochew: Toy Manufacturers Gear Up for New Year Orders

As families gather for the Lunar New Year celebrations, production workshops in Shantou Chenghai, known as Teochew in English, have kicked into high gear, striving to fulfill orders and sprint towards a prosperous start to the year.

Within the production floors of Shantou Chenghai’s toy enterprises like Gaodis Precision Technology Co., Ltd., commonly known as “Gaodis,” the atmosphere remains bustling.

“None of our frontline workers have had a holiday; we’re working overtime even during the Spring Festival,” shared Song Yaoxin, Vice Chairman of Gaodis. He emphasized that the end of the year and the beginning of the new year mark the peak season for toy manufacturers. Gaodis is currently focusing mainly on domestic orders, with production schedules already booked until May.

For instance, recent releases such as the “Dragon Treasure Pig” electric smart toy by Shifeng Cultural Development Co., Ltd., or “Shi Feng Wen Hua” in Chinese, and JAKI’s first original zodiac-themed mecha building block, “Blaze Mech Dragon,” have both seen impressive sales figures.

Transitioning from “Low Quality, Low Price” to “High Quality, Competitive Price”

Shantou is currently driving initiatives such as doubling enterprise growth, empowering creativity and innovation, enhancing trade and service quality, and elevating brand building in its toy industry. This has led many toy companies to break free from the constraints of low-end manufacturing and embark on paths of intelligent and branded development.

At the 50th Hong Kong Toy Fair, staff at the Shifeng Cultural booth were busy entertaining waves of visitors.

“This is the first global toy fair of the year, and the turnout is significant,” explained Yu Peida, a Shifeng Cultural representative. Foreign buyers have shown particular interest in intelligent IP toys like “Penguin Buzz” and “Smart Flying Bunny,” with their charming designs attracting inquiries from Europe, America, and Central Asia.

A blockbuster IP often fuels the development of derivative characters, giving rise to more related industries and stimulating the entire supply chain.

Chenghai’s toy brands lead the nation in terms of IP authorizations and patent grants. How does IP empowerment benefit the local toy creative industry?

“IP needs vitality and constant promotion,” noted Chen Yongdong, Assistant General Manager of the toy division at Shifeng Cultural. Currently, Shifeng Cultural primarily promotes its products through unboxing test videos on platforms like Douyin (TikTok), while exploring avenues such as animated comics, comic stories, and emoji packs around toy IPs for future product promotion.

Leveraging capital advantages, leading companies like Shifeng Cultural, Aofei Entertainment, and Xinghui Entertainment are gradually diversifying into industries such as animation, film, and gaming, accelerating the integration of toy IPs with cultural innovation. Chen Feng, another official, emphasized that “Toy +” cross-industry integration has become a crucial growth point for the toy industry.

Just as emphasized in the Provincial Party Committee’s specific deployment within the framework of “Solidly Promoting the Construction of a Strong Province in Culture,” achieving new breakthroughs in delivering both material and spiritual civilization is paramount.

Shantou’s toy creative industry, with its approach of balancing “spiritual” and “material” development, provides a reference path for the transformation and upgrading of traditional advantageous industries.

The rise of IP toys epitomizes Chenghai’s transition from “Low Quality, Low Price” to “High Quality, Competitive Price,” with a deep commitment to precision manufacturing.

Entering Gaodis, one is struck by the real-time production status displayed on large screens. Nearly all production lines have achieved a level of intelligence and automation, with high-precision general-purpose building blocks continuously emerging from injection molding machines.

Party Secretary and Director Chen Yisheng explained that the error margin for general parts is strictly controlled to below 0.02mm, which is only 1/5th the diameter of a human hair. Furthermore, the strong color stability ensures consistency between colors produced now and those produced in ten years.

Moreover, Shantou is orienting its transformation towards high-end development, expediting the layout of the “Toy + Big Intelligence” industry. This aligns with the provincial government’s emphasis on “promoting the high-level advancement of industrial foundations and modernizing industrial chains.”

Moving goods around feels akin to playing with remote-controlled cars. Stepping into Gaodis’s mold production workshop, one observes staff from Guangdong Weida Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. calibrating tray-type intelligent warehousing equipment.

Robots shuttle through the corridors like remote-controlled cars, scanning terrain data, which is then instantly recorded on computers.

Chen Yisheng elaborated that the production line is already operational, achieving zero manual labor and full intelligence through robot docking and mechanical arm coordination. This enables the entire process from workshop to warehousing to logistics to operate without human intervention.

“We don’t just produce machines; we provide customized solutions based on our clients’ individual needs, encompassing equipment, technology, and services,” explained Huang Xuwei, Chairman and General Manager of Weida Intelligent.

Building Industrial Cluster Competitiveness

The “Shantou Chenghai District Toy Creative Industry High-Quality Development Plan (2023-2030)” analysis suggests that the coming years until 2030 present strategic opportunities for the development of the Chenghai toy creative industry.

Currently, enhancing cluster competitiveness, establishing industrial platforms, and attracting investments to strengthen the industrial chain are crucial tasks for Shantou’s toy creative industry transformation and upgrading.

The realization of the Chenghai toy creative industry’s potential requires expanding spaces for development, advancing the transformation of industrial parks, and promoting industrial upgrading. Initiatives like the Zhongke Smart Valley · China Toy Industry City project are instrumental in this regard.

Entering a building awaiting handover within the Zhongke Smart Valley project, one finds completed drainage, flooring, gates, and lighting, along with fully equipped facilities. Mon Chun Wing, the project’s general manager, emphasized the importance of minimizing production downtime for enterprises, ensuring seamless transition.

“To assist companies in minimizing downtime to mere days, we take care of every detail in the park,” he noted. “This allows companies to essentially ‘move in with just a bag.'”

To facilitate the aggregation and development of the toy creative industry, efforts are being made to promote cooperation among enterprises in sectors like animation, research and development, mold making, packaging, printing, and sales. This collaboration aims to create industrial clustering effects, effectively reducing costs and improving efficiency for production.

The practices at the Zhongke Smart Valley project epitomize Shantou’s exploration of paths for transformation and upgrading in the toy creative industry.

As industries thrive, economies strengthen, and with superior industries come robust momentum. The development of a “leading enterprise + supporting facilities” ecosystem in Shantou’s toy creative industry not only propels local and surrounding areas’ industrial cluster cultivation but also serves as a strong engine for regional economic development, injecting new vitality into provincial coordinated development.

In Shantou Chenghai, toy enterprises explore various avenues beyond toy production alone. With a complete supply chain from raw materials to design, production, sales, and market entry, Chenghai’s toy industry opens up numerous possibilities.

Walking through Guangdong Qunyu Interactive Technology Co., Ltd.’s AI base, one witnesses robots crafted from building blocks gracefully dancing under the instructions of programming modules. Seemingly simple dance moves conceal significant “black technology.”

“We continuously explore educational aspects within the toy industry,” said company head Ji Huanhui. Qunyu Technology offers smart building block components and programming system technical services, exploring diverse “ways to play” in Chenghai toys. “In the future, we will also add modules featuring Teochew-themed songs and dances, enabling toys to perform ‘stage plays,'” added Ji.

Apart from exploring more “ways to play” with toys, many toy companies are transitioning towards precision manufacturing to seize larger market shares.

“Toys are just one niche in the broader plastics industry. Beyond this, there are blue ocean markets in fields like 3C electronics, new energy vehicles, and smart homes,” shared Chen Yisheng. The Chenghai Plastic Precision Manufacturing Alliance, led by Gaodis, has already attracted over 40 member companies. Against the backdrop of the orderly transfer of industries in the Pearl River Delta, the alliance will strengthen cooperation with similar enterprises in the region to share development opportunities.

The provincial government’s work report proposes to “deepen the orderly transfer of industries,” emphasizing the “adherence to the integration of production and cities, and the integration of urban and industrial development, and the construction of high-standard platforms for the orderly transfer of industries and the layout of industrial transfer cooperation parks.” As a new exploration of “enclave economy” development, the joint construction of an industrial park by Shenzhen’s Bao’an District and Shantou’s Chenghai District has been inaugurated in Chenghai.

This territory extends Shantou’s industrial development reach into the vast market of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, connecting Bao’an’s industrial advantages in electronics, equipment manufacturing, digital creativity, and exhibition commerce with Chenghai’s complementary toy industry. It provides more possibilities for the high-quality development of enterprises in both regions, fostering a win-win-win situation.

“By undertaking part of Bao’an’s traditional industries, helping Chenghai lay a solid foundation and expand on a large scale, assisting Bao’an in unburdening itself and lightening its load, and helping enterprises reduce costs, increase efficiency, and expand production, we achieve triple wins for all parties,” stated Wang Chubin, Party Secretary of Chenghai District.

Shantou’s toy creative industry is breaking through obstacles, marching towards a promising future.

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