The east wind is gentle, and the “China-chic” trend is booming.
From “National Treasures” to “Poetry Conferences”, from the “Tang Palace Night Banquet” to “Luo Shen’s Water Tribute”, from the “Horse-Face Skirt” to the “Flower Hairpin Crown”… A continuous stream of creative expressions has transformed China’s ancient and refined quintessence into a new beloved of the times.
Chinese culture, with its 5,000-year history, re-emerges in this age of competitive development, displaying unceasing vitality, charm, rhythm, and spirit.
Generation Z with Increasing “China-chic Content”
Data released by relevant institutions shows that in the past ten years, the search heat for “China-chic” has increased by 528%, and for every ten items Chinese consumers purchase on e-commerce platforms, over seven are domestic goods; nearly eighty percent of Chinese consumers prefer domestic brands. The rise of the China-chic economy has undoubtedly injected new vitality into the consumer market, leading a new consumption trend.
According to statistics, in 2023, the size of China’s China-chic economic market reached 20,517.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.44%, and it is expected to exceed 30 trillion yuan by 2028.
Among the main forces of China-chic consumption, Generation Z’s contribution cannot be underestimated.
On Bilibili, a platform where young Chinese generations highly gather, among more than 7,000 core interest circles, traditional culture is one of the hottest circles; Tmall data shows that the average spending on domestic goods by those born in the 90s has exceeded 6,000 yuan; the 2023 “China-chic Brand Young Consumer Insight Report” also shows that 78.5% of consumers prefer to choose Chinese brands. In the consumption of China-chic brands across the whole industry, those born in the 90s and 00s contributed 74% of the consumption amount, becoming the absolute main force.
These big data pieces all attest to the fact that chasing and consuming “China-chic” has become the fashion and circle culture of the younger generation.
China-chic Trend, Empowering maternal and baby industry
Intangible cultural heritage creations, Guofeng coffee, embroidered nails, new Chinese-style dressing… The strong “China-chic” flavor has permeated every aspect, and now, this trend has also blown into the maternal and baby industry.
According to data from Analysis, 57% of Generation Z mothers have purchased China-chic maternal and baby products; Nielsen’s maternal and baby insight report also reveals that China-chic maternal and baby brands are gradually taking over the minds of the high-end maternal and baby consumer groups, becoming one of the trends in the core maternal and baby consumption categories.
The impact of China-chic on the maternal and baby industry is reflected in the following dimensions and aspects:
01 Revitalization of the Ancient “Chinese Style” Series
During the Dragon Year Spring Festival, the horse-face skirt suddenly became a hot item in clothing. On TikTok, short videos with the hashtag #HorseFaceSkirt# have received more than 20 billion views.
This primary skirt style for ancient Chinese women, which has been around since the Song Dynasty, has once again become “the most suitable princess dress for the Chinese baby’s physique” after improvements that combine traditional clothing features with modern practicality.
Chinese-style toys, like the sophisticated mortise-and-tenon models, mesmerizing flip-over dragons, dynamic Arowana lamps, cool Guofeng mecha, and both cute and imposing lion dance toys, have regained attention. In the CCTV “China New Toys” program, the intelligence and aesthetics unique to the Chinese, harmonized with modern craftsmanship, were perfectly represented.
At the beginning of this year, the mortise-and-tenon toy “Yingxinglou Building Blocks” and the Chinese-style 3D metal puzzles “Golden Winged Bird Crown” and “Wangong Sedan Chair” gained numerous fans at the German Nuremberg Toy Fair.
Designers continue to innovate while paying homage to and drawing from the essence of tradition, giving new interpretations to the old Chinese style. These new Chinese-style products not only carry a long history and cultural heritage but also showcase the aesthetic taste and creativity of modern Chinese people.
02 Application of Chinese Cultural Symbols
The booming rise of the China-chic has also influenced the product designs and packaging concepts in the maternal and baby industry, making them actively integrate Chinese elements and aesthetics.
Especially in the dragon-filled year of 2024, various brands have displayed their skills: ABC KIDS jackets with a dragon-scale feel paired with dragon head print sweaters, bursting with dragon aura to start good fortune; Huggies Little Dragon Pants with exquisitely patterned diapers containing well-wishing blessings for safety; Hegen’s Dragon Year Commemorative Edition bottle with a purple dragon symbolizing great prospects on the bottle; Qiu Tian Full “Dragon Year Kirin Blessing Gift Box,” packaging 14 snack items with cute dragon-shaped DIY cardboard wearable toys that are both tasty and playful…
In addition to the “dragon” totem symbol, Chinese cultural symbols such as the Palace Museum’s cultural creations, Dunhuang, Sanxingdui, Liangzhu, and others are also being revived in modern contexts. This not only showcases the confidence and charm of national culture but also injects new vitality and creativity into the industry.
03 Inheritance of Traditional Child-Rearing Concepts
Traditional child-rearing concepts have endured through millennia, containing profound wisdom and heritage. With the changes in times, these concepts are having new interpretations and applications in maternal and baby products.
This is particularly evident in the baby wash and care category. In addition to well-known products such as talcum powder and Lithospermum ointment, many baby wash and care products developed from ancient texts like “Compendium of Materia Medica” and “Taiping Sheng Hui Fang” have also become new favorites in the market. Most of these products use pure plant Chinese herbal ingredients such as mugwort leaves, Isatis leaves, dandelion, perilla, etc., combined with ancient brewing and modern extraction techniques. As a result, mothers trust their safety. Industry insiders revealed: “The market for Chinese herbal wash and care products shows a clear growth trend, with a 160% increase from January to May 2024 compared to the same period, showing great potential.”
Additionally, traditional medicine also provides for children’s snacks that align with the concept of food and medicine sharing the same origin, such as Bazhen paste, pear ointment candy, hawthorn pills, etc. CBME Insights believes that healthy snacks containing the wisdom of traditional medicine will be the next huge potential blue ocean, as recently evidenced by the viral Traditional Chinese Medicine sour plum drink.
With China-chic surging, the Chinese trend becomes mainstream.
Looking up at the sky illuminated by the moon of the Qin era, bowing to the land of five thousand years of civilization, even in the most ordinary, everyday moments, there is a constant echo and inheritance of that long and profound cultural lineage.
This generation, the next generation, every generation.
Keywords:
#Shanghai CBME 2024 exhibitor workshops
