From Yi minority silverware to Southern Min objects d’art, regional and ethnic (ICH) arts and crafts items are a big part of the market. There are also workshops where visitors can make their own windchimes or patchwork art. From local delicacies like Yunnan fungi and Inner Mongolian craft beer to rock-climbing gear and other equipment, the market offers an array of options to suit most interests.

Like Douyin’s “stroll festival”, Rednote also invited streamers from different categories to broadcast live at the market and spark discussion online. Events such as band performances, an amateur fashion show, sports activities and workshops created an all-encompassing experience.

At the same time, Rednote added a “Market” tab to the bottom of its homepage. The e-commerce page is not labelled “mall” or “shopping”, but instead relies on the platform’s interest circles for users to “browse”, much like at the offline market. As Rednote rebrands itself as an “interest community”, it has tried to put both words into practice and differentiate itself from competitors. It will be interesting to see how the platform continues to monetise the community with its new “marketplace” function.

Need to boost your China strategy? Dao Pro delivers bespoke insights on marketing, innovation, and digital trends, direct from Chinese sources. Find out more from our Dao Strategy Team here.

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Chinese netizens have a history of expressing perplexity about the pricing of luxury and high-end products. This time, many began questioning why the ingredient of the spray is listed as only water. The thermal spring water is the foundation of the brand La Roche-Posay, named after the village in France where it gets its water from and is a key ingredient in many of its products. The spray, of course, is the ingredient in its purest form. After going viral, the brand responded that the water is special, and the nozzle also has costs. However, for 129 RMB (18.09 USD) per bottle, the ingredient can hardly justify the price.

• #理肤泉回应上百元喷雾成分只有水 La Roche-Posay responds to the over 100 RMB spray being just water: 48.88 million views on Weibo, ranking number 2 on the Hot Search list
• #理肤泉上百元喷雾被指成分只有水La Roche-Posay over 100 RMB spray accused of being just water: 15.16 million views on Weibo, ranking number 18 on the Hot Search list

While many netizens were outraged by the news, others reacted more calmly. Some replies said that the spray has always been only water. It is interesting that there has been a delayed reaction from netizens, who only after the brand launched a pop-up for the very ingredient, did they these raise issues. For a long time, premium and luxury brands have always been discussed by those “in the know” and much of the premise accepted. But when the brands begin to try to raise awareness and appeal to more people, many who are not familiar with the brand narrative might be taken aback. The La Roche-Posay controversy is an example of this phenomenon.

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Some pundits see it as an extension of the earlier sub-cultural trend “Chinese dreamcore”, which blends an early digital, psychedelic aesthetic with childhood nostalgia for the 1990s and 2000s, often involving dreams of time travel. But as the name suggests, it is more of a grown-up sentiment among young professionals towards that era. After all, those who grew up in those years weren’t old enough to understand what the economic upswing meant until after the fact.

Rose-tinted spectacles

Since earlier this year, especially in early summer, a viral trend on social platforms such as Rednote and WeChat introduced the phrase to many. The trend itself centres on how great “your mum’s wardrobe” was 20 years ago. The phrase “beauty of economic upswing” began circulating, usually to describe outfits or old photos, often street snaps. It partially coincides with the Y2K resurgence and broader nostalgia trends of recent years, but with a distinctly Chinese background.

Quickly, the concept of the phrase expanded, since beauty is rarely used to describe just visual attraction. The “beauty” of the era has been elevated to capture the spirit of a hopeful society, one that had joined the World Trade Organisation, won the bid for the Olympic Games, and was finding its place on the world stage at the start of the new century. Some suggest it was a time when people firmly believed that tomorrow would be better than today, and that hard work would pay off.

The golden age fallacy

Commentators quickly pointed out that China is not the only one looking back on its most recent heyday. Japan is also revisiting the 80s and early 90s “bubble economy” era. From the revival of the 1980s “city pop” genre of R&B music to the growing interest in “Shōwa nostalgia”, young people in Japan are reflecting on a time when the country was looking ahead during an economic boom. Similarly, Hollywood often looks back on the United States’ various “golden ages” throughout the post-war period. For today’s generation, the 90s and Y2K era is likely the last “golden age” remembered, despite the 911 tragedy that shifted the grand narrative away from endless progress.

For the same reason, the 1990s and Y2K fashion have been featured heavily in today’s mainstream designs, providing the backdrop for the Chinese version to thrive. From “you wake up one afternoon in 2006” (which garnered over 8 million views on Rednote) to waves of content showcasing late 1990s and 2000s toys and stationery, the post-80s and post-90s generations are revisiting the culture they grew up with.

These are the good old days

Hashtags such as “retro” (古早, lit. means ancient), “2000s”, “millennium”, and “Chinese dreamcore” have gone viral on platforms such as Douyin, with hundreds of millions of views. Influencers not only try on their mother’s wardrobe but also recreate iconic looks from the 1980s to the 2000s, inspired by pop culture.

As with its global counterpart, Chinese Y2K nostalgia is born out of economic uncertainty and young people’s lack of optimism. Much of the “beauty of economic upswing” comes from the bold fashion, use of colour and designs that contrast with today’s “quiet luxury” or minimal aesthetic. For this reason, many young people dress in the Y2K style to give themselves motivation and confidence, just like the young people walking the streets of Beijing in 2008.

For this very reason, I argue that the trend is not a reactive or escapist sentiment. A report from Goofish shows that young people today are still fighting for a better future by taking on second jobs. On the platform, 9.45 million people are working second jobs, with 40.8% from the post-00 generation. Goofish also sees the “emotional value” of certain hobbies and interests as “therapeutic”, such as pet-keeping, which was a 300 billion RMB (41,94 billion USD) business in 2024 and designer toys, a 60 billion RMB (8.39 billion USD) business; together, they have been healing over 1 billion people in China. Each generation has its own way of dealing with the world. As long as young people today are still working towards a better tomorrow, who says that when they look back in 10 or 15 years, these won’t be the good old days they miss?

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HeyTea quickly responded that the trans fatty acids come from real dairy milk rather than manmade chemicals. However, this did not convince many netizens, as some pointed out that the brand had explicitly promised zero trans fats in the past. Others noted that although HeyTea’s sample tested the highest, the trans fatty acid content remains below the national standard and is therefore compliant with regulations.

• #喜茶称反式脂肪酸最高证明真奶最多 HeyTea says the most trans fatty acid means the most real milk: 21.55 million views on Weibo, ranking number 5 on the Hot Search list
• #喜茶曾承诺0反式脂肪酸 HeyTea once promised 0 trans fatty acid: 7.59 million views on Weibo, ranking number 36 on the Hot Search list

This controversy is a serious problem for HeyTea, as one of its primary marketing pillars has been health. Not only was it an early advocate of ingredient transparency, but it also developed many health-centric products. With the majority of netizens unconvinced by its initial response, it will be crucial for HeyTea to carefully plan its next steps.

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• The Asia Pet Fair opened in Shanghai on 20 August as brands tap into the booming “pet economy” in China.
• Brands such as NetEase Yanxuan, CHAGEE and Tmall all launched campaigns to resonate with current and aspiring pet owners.
• From angles of health, companionship and responsibility, the campaigns try to provide “emotional value” to pet-loving young people.

With the 27th Asia Pet Fair underway in Shanghai, from robot dogs to a pet fashion show, brands, pet-related or not, are trying to leverage the spotlight on these companions. The pet economy in China has continued to grow as people seek “emotional value”, not necessarily through romance or family, and pets are one of the alternatives for young people in China.

For brands that are not known for making pet products, it is a great way to tap into the massive appeal of pets, whether through new products or campaigns. Here are some of the highlights from this year.

Getting steamy

NetEase, the Chinese tech company best known for its 163 music platform and video games, brought its lifestyle brand NetEase Yanxuan (网易严选, lit. curated by NetEase) to the fair.

Not only did it showcase its latest pet food innovation, but it also built a “check-in” (打卡) spot for photo opportunities. The latest offering is “freshly steamed” pet food, made with cutting-edge technology designed not only to provide nutritious meals but also to support pets’ digestive systems.

To reinforce its steamed theme, NetEase brought a huge steamer installation to the Pet Fair, providing photo opportunities for visitors and making the NetEase Yanxuan booth a popular destination. The brand also launched livestreams on both Douyin and Tmall for online participation.

Season of pets

In late August, the “new Chinese-style” tea chain, CHAGEE, launched its “pet-friendly” season of 2025, almost exactly one year later. This year, the tea chain launched a four-pronged campaign for both online and offline.

With a central theme of “accompaniment”, CHAGEE brought in-store experiences, collaborations with charities, exclusive merch releases and user engagement to provide social interactions and raise awareness of animal protection.

CHAGEE launched a free dairy cream giveaway for pets at 135 locations across China. 20 CHAGEE branches also have a wall for photo opportunities. There is merch such as fridge magnets and customisable cups, where you can upload pictures of your pet to print on. With its WeChat Mini Program, users can exchange in-app credits for 100kg of pet food at rescue stations.

At the Asia Pet Fair. CHAGEE hosted adoption events for visitors to encourage adoption. CHAGEE has been opening pet-friendly branches since 2023 and started its first pet-friendly month last year.

Are you sure you want a pet?

Like CHAGEE, Tmall, also took the charity path as its step into the pet economy. However, the Alibaba-owned e-commerce giant took a subversive route by “discouraging” pet ownership.

The context is that with the current pet boom, people are exposed to too much “seeding” for pets and Tmall has sought to discourage potential impulse buys driven by either fear of missing out or sheer cuteness from pet videos. When heads cool, these impulse decisions or adoptions may lead to abandonment, sometimes repeatedly.

According to the “2023-2024 Pet Industry White Book”, there are approximately 100 million stray cats and dogs, and over 75% of stray animals are the result of human abandonment. With a slogan urging people to “think it through” before owning a pet, Taobao and Tmall, along with 17 pet product brands, are trying to curb unprepared pet-keeping.

Using a visual pun of a pet-shaped “pit”, the campaign poster plays on the idea of “入坑” (really getting into something, but lit. entering a pit). Tmall asks viewers whether they are ready for the potential bad behaviours and destruction that can come with pets, and whether they are prepared to look after them for their entire lives. The key message is to reject “pets as entertainment”.

As the pet economy continues to grow, pet-keeping is becoming part of everyday life for many young people in China. Brands, pet-related or not, are tapping into the lifestyle sector and trying to leverage the “emotional value” in marketing. Pets are just as important as messaging aimed at romance, family or the recently buzzing “interest” trend. However, like with family or romance, a resonating message can’t be only “buy”. Health, companionship, and responsibility were some of the innovative angles from brands at the Asia Pet Fair this year, and we can expect to see more creative pet-based campaigns in the future.

Need to boost your China strategy? Dao Pro delivers bespoke insights on marketing, innovation, and digital trends, direct from Chinese sources. Find out more from our Dao Strategy Team here.

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These bright yellow woven bags are being given away for free at select Decathlon shops, but in limited quantities. Unlike most fashion brands, which take inspiration from bin liners or woven bags and then “fashionise” them in size, materials, or design, the Decathlon urea bags are as close as you can get to real agricultural packaging, the only difference being the slogan messaging.

Eagle-eyed netizens quickly discovered the true origin of these bags. They are a collaboration between Decathlon and Rednote’s Go Wild Festival for outdoor enthusiasts. In fact, for hikers, campers and other outdoor lovers, urea and other fertiliser bags have long been a secret weapon due to their practical size and robustness.

Now, for the “couple of days” of the Go Wild Festival, Rednote continues to build its community of users and brands around shared interests, leveraging its recent rebrand. For Decathlon, it is a great viral moment to earn recognition not only in outdoor wear but also in post-modern fashion.

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Game Science raised quite a few eyebrows at Gamescom in Cologne when they showed a 2-minute teaser for their next release. It is not a DLC (downloadable content, similar to an expansion pack) for Wukong, nor is it a direct sequel, but a brand-new entry to the Black Myth series: Black Myth: Zhong Kui. The teaser features Zhong, a Taoist deity and vanquisher of ghosts, riding a tiger while commanding his army of demons.

• #黑神话 Black Myth: 110 million views in 24 hours on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list
• #冯骥杨奇谈黑神话钟馗 Feng Ji and Yang Qi discuss Black Myth: Zhong Kui: 32.09 million views on Weibo, ranking number 8 on the Hot Search list

Since Wukong’s release, it was widely speculated that there would be a DLC. The announcement almost certainly means we won’t see a Wukong DLC in the foreseeable future, with some pundits predicting no new Wukong content until a full sequel. Understandably, the teaser caused some backlash among Wukong fans. Feng Ji and Yang Qi, the studio’s co-founders, published long posts explaining their desire to create something new. The new game will have fresh mechanics and stories. However, with Zhong Kui being a lesser-known character both at home and abroad compared to Wukong, the game will likely be a test of both the Black Myth brand and Game Science itself.

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On 15 August, Swatch launched its new Essentials collection. For representation, it featured an East Asian male model sporting a colourful chronograph watch. However, the model posed with his fingers pulling at the corners of his eyes, creating a slanted eye effect. This pose reflects a racial stereotype and is widely considered offensive towards people of East Asian descent. Following uproar in China, Swatch deleted the image and videos the next day and issued an apology.

• #Swatch中国官网已找不到眯眯眼照片 Slanted eye photos can no longer be found on Swatch’s China official site: 23.92 million views on Weibo, ranking number 6 on the Hot Search list

Chinese netizens are rightfully outraged. Many pundits, however, are digging deeper into the root of the issue. The slanted eyes gesture was likely not trying to offend Chinese people for any nefarious reason, but rather was an uninformed attempt to emphasise Asian identity in the age of 15-second videos and laziness in execution, since no one thought to raise the issue before the campaign was launched. This, of course, won’t work in highly localised markets like China and East Asia. Maybe it is advisable for brands to recruit a Chinese cultural advisor, like Loewe has done.

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From group livestream

We discussed the rise of group livestreams on the platform and how they take a leaf out of the idol group playbook. However, the “wild west” growth of group livestreams has raised many concerns for platforms, including not paying employees properly or having risqué content. For this reason, Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app, has announced new regulations and summoned several group streaming agencies for talks. Some commentators see this as a return to form for livestreams, like in the mid-2010s when it was all about dancers and livestream sales were in their infancy.

Against this backdrop of viral popularity and closer platform scrutiny, the next dance craze on Chinese social media was born out of group livestreams. A group called “Xiyue-X” (喜悦-X, lit. Joy-X), first debuted the later-nicknamed “leg sweep” dance in a 7-hour livestream in collaboration with another influencer. The dance is set to music by K-pop star Rain, and the moves also bear some resemblance. However, with a low-angle and slow action of sweeping their feet on the floor, the Xiyue-X version is clearly designed to show off the boy band members’ long and slender legs. The livestream had 11.99 million views in total, with peak simultaneous viewers reaching 300,000.

Via celebs

The mesmerising dance, like many group livestream dance moves, was designed to capture the “female gaze”, which other group streamers quickly caught on to. The dance quickly moved beyond the group streaming niche into the mainstream streaming world. Mainstream top streamers such as the “Cantonese Husband and Wife” team (广东夫妇) also performed a version of this dance.

But what followed really pushed the dance from its livestreaming roots into the “real mainstream”. Actor Ding Yuxi posted a video of himself, accompanied by four other equally tall and handsome backing dancers, performing the dance in a red-themed, professionally lit studio, adding atmosphere to the video and making it look once again, like a dance sequence from a music video. On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Ding Yuxi leg sweep dance” (#丁禹兮扫腿舞#) ranked number 4 on the Hot Search list with 49.94 million views.

The video propelled the dance to become a fad that every celeb must try, like the “peel-apart” film earlier this year. From former EXO singer Lu Han (鹿晗), to Ding Chengxin (丁程鑫) of TNT (时代少年团, Teens in Times) and actor Xia Zhiguang (夏之光), all the way to Korean K-pop veteran Kim Jae-joong, all have performed the dance in recent days.

To brands

With the dance firmly established in mainstream pop culture, brands are moving in to leverage its viral popularity. Taobao started with a male model in a Tao Xiaobao, the Taobao mascot, mask, performing the leg sweep dance, with a twist where his shirt unbuttons as the light switches to red. What followed were brand mascots, especially those trying to build their own IPs, such as Snow King from Mixue, Lucky from Luckin Coffee and his new bride, Duo from Duolingo, all tried their hands, or rather, legs, at the dance.

But unlike the pure physical appeal of the original dance, the often short-legged cartoon mascots mostly show humour with their clumsy attempts at the boy band moves. Lucky’s slightly “greasy” (油腻) dance also draws jokey pokes at the “taste of married men”. Duo promptly came out to support his new groom (Globally, Duo is referred to with male pronouns).

The trend is similar to how Snow King launched the “swing over a lake” viral trend, which was followed by nearly every brand mascot active on social media.

Pundits believe this reflects how brands are now leveraging the “crazy” and “abstract” humour that plays on the surreal and post-modern. This content style tends to resonate widely among younger generations in China and also brings official accounts closer to users. While for higher-positioned brands it might seem like they’re simply following a trend, brands meant for everyday use, such as e-commerce platforms and coffee shops, joining the fun might be the way to become “one of us” among the post-00 generation.

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An Americano makes sense, as there’s no milk to worry about. However, the flavour is not the only draw for those eager to try something unconventional. Datong Cultural Tourism also brought stickers, sleeves and paper bags featuring artworks of the Ji Letian, the Celestial Musician and Dancer from the Yungang Grottoes, as well as displays from the Datong Museum and Huayan Temple. At the same time, a vinegar-flavoured fried chicken thigh was also introduced by KFC, along with the coffee.

The flavour, of course, appeals to the meme-loving younger generation that dares to try anything. However, black vinegar coffee has been in development in Shanxi, a province famous for its vinegar, for a couple of years. With local small-town coffee shops emerging, it has become a local staple. Whether it is a tourist trap or truly a local delicacy, the national introduction from KCOFFEE might be a good chance to find out.

Shanxi, especially Datong, has been growing rapidly as a travel destination. With the blockbusting video game Black Myth: Wukong basing many of its maps in real locations in Shanxi, the province now resonates deeply with traditional culture and Buddhist artefacts. The new collaboration, in this sense, appeals to both the “abstract” loving crowd who enjoy KFC’s “Crazy Thursdays” and to those who love cultural tourism and the traditional heritage associated with Datong’s city marketing. A very interesting, localised campaign for a coffee brand from an American fast-food giant.

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