Squeezed by stagnant wages, young Chinese are spending billions to buy ‘feelings’
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A small, goggle-eyed creature with pointy ears and a mouthful of jagged teeth has somehow become one of the defining consumer products this decade. Labubu — the “ugly-cute” elf sold by Beijing-based Pop Mart HK:9992 — generated roughly $4 billion in revenue for the company in 2025, drove its Hong Kong-listed stock up more than 125% in a single year, and turned up on the handbags of Rihanna, Dua Lipa and Naomi Osaka (who named her bejeweled, customized versions “Andre Swagassi” and “Billie Jean Bling”).
At the Fortune Global Forum last October, the CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing held up not a semiconductor breakthrough, not an EV milestone — but a Labubu as the emblematic product of China’s emerging consumer moment.



























