The curious case of Labubu's Chinese identity 🎫 | Following the Yuan

Ambiguity is good, ambiguity is safe.

Jun 12, 2025

Hi everyone, I’m in Spain this week. As I’ve been pondering about my own identity in Europe in the previous weeks, some recent conversations conjured thoughts about the identity of Labubu, you know, that fluffy doll with rabbit ears and mischievous grin that has seemingly possessed every celebrity’s handbag.

A star is born: Labubu

After being inquired about the popularity of Disney’s Lotso Bear in China, I can see the parallel between the two IPs right away: both derived from Chinese toy makers’ relentless experimentations — like throwing pasta against the wall to see what sticks. While Lotso Bear, mostly distributed in China by Miniso and Disney, became a domestic hit, Labubu propelled Pop Mart’s global expansion with its international fame.

The Monsters series, including Labubu, raked three billion RMB for the toy maker in 2024, making Pop Mart one of China top VC darlings alongside Laopu Gold and Mixue. And its influence extends far beyond the doll-sphere. On June 10, Beijing’s Yongle International Auction sold a human-sized Labubu figure for over one million RMB, Pharrell Williams’ online marketplace JOOPITER is hosting an auction that includes special blind box selection of 14 one-of-a-kind Labubu figures.

From left to right: three VC darlings Pop Mart, Laopu Gold and Mixue’s hero products — Labubu, Rose Window Pendant, lemon water. Image: FTY/internet

One of Labubu's first viral moments came from ex-Blackpink member Lisa (Thai singer, rapper, actor Lalisa Manobal), who declared herself a die-hard fan. Then, a wave of celebrities followed suit, including Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and the Beckhams. At the same time, droves of wealthy influencers sport Labubu dolls as a quasi-official accessory for their Hermes and Louis Vuitton handbags.

The influencer marketing engine started kicked into gear. And as of today, we are witnessing the trend at its peak.

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Is Labubu Chinese? Does it matter?

Can you call Labubu a Chinese IP? I believe so. To put it simply, it doesn’t suggest anything Chinese in its appearance, but it’s created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, manufactured in China, and scaled through the retail network of Chinese company Pop Mart.

On the product level, not looking Chinese is helpful. Customers don’t need to think much about what specific race or nationality Labubu indicates, unlike with Mattel’s Barbie or merchandise of China’s box office winner Nezha II (imaginary inner voice: “is it ok for me to get this doll if I don’t identify with x?”).

Also, how many of you know that Labubu is female? Early fans of The Monsters might find Labubu’s personality endearing and resonate with her being a mischievous girlfriend of Tycoco, whereas mass adopters may just want it because it's popular, trendy among celebs and want to get their hands on one. Gender identity can be a messy topic — I feel conflicted even calling her someone’s girlfriend. (“She’s more than that! A voice shouts in my head.)

Labubu’s racial and gender ambiguity, I argue, makes her/them more inclusive, contributing to its mass adoption.

Labubu is Tycoco’s (left) girlfriend. Image: Pop Mart YouTube

On the corporate level, Chinese companies have been painfully aware of Chineseness in their branding and are actively finding ways to navigate it. They often do so by:

deploying different publicity strategies within and outside China;
moving HQs and manufacturing outside China.

It can be taxing when business decision makers don’t only need to consider the products, local regulations, but also the image of provenance — something you have no control over. One must also consider the reception towards the negative connotation attached to being Chinese, including poor quality and questionable ethical standards, which are propelled and reinforced by the likes of Temu and Shein.

I don’t believe Pop Mart executives want to talk about Labubu’s Chinese identity at all, unless to state media outlets in Chinese, to feed the latter’s obsession with rising patriotism and accompanying spending power.

Along with the ambiguous identity of the product, Pop Mart’s corporate image, much like its competitor Miniso, is ambiguous. Ambiguity around the corporate identity may mean that there’s less likelihood for backlash if Beijing does something wrong.

Ambiguity is good, ambiguity is safe.

What can companies or the government learn?

However, it would be a shame if any company only sees Labubu from a ‘China great’ lens, or the central government pats itself on the back for its conventional PR.

Arguably, the larger contributor to China’s rising soft power is the fall of its biggest competitor: the U.S. The disintegration of the idea of America as the spiritual beacon, the moral compass, and the most powerful storyteller of the world has been torn apart by Comrade Jianguo ('“nation builder” in Chinese), better known as Donald Trump.

But it should be as much about external opportunities as it is about internal strength.

From YouTuber Ishowspeed's China tour to the validation of the Economist article "How China became cool" (which also began with Ishowspeed) — what makes China cooler in Western pop culture than before has little to do with Beijing’s shove-it-in-your-face propaganda model. You know, the kind you see in sponsored YouTube/Instagram travel videos (#Chinatravel), paid social media traffic, the in-flight entertainment on Chinese airlines full of scenery and artisanship and food. Instead, transparency in Ishowspeed’s videos, especially in the first few stops before local propaganda departments got involved, did the magic.

Comparing Labubu with Nezha II’s global publicity trajectory, you get the direct comparison of what’s working and what’s not. The idea of Nezha, a teenage deity, is too far removed for the rest of the world, and overseas audiences who did not grow up with Chinese fantasy classics must bear with chunky subtitles and an overload of new information. Nezha wasn’t built for an overseas audience, sure — but by amplifying its Chinese identity and narrative overseas, it carries too much emotional baggage for those who, to be fair, do not have the emotional availability for a foreign cartoon.

In comparison, Labubu is light and fun and baggage-free. Its ambiguous identity lifts off the awkward ‘China great’ lens that less shrewd Chinese companies and the government build for themselves

Transparency on the government level, ambiguity on the business level — that seems to be the way to navigate being Chinese today. 🔚

If you are in London next Wednesday, People's Square, a nonprofit I co-founded, is hosting ‘On the Ground in China’, a salon for discussing trends in today's Chinese society at LSE. See details here: https://lu.ma/kyg9xsm6

Read about the other two China VC darlings: