When Vivian Hao, a 39-year-old editor in China’s Anhui Province, came across the red horse plushie on social media, she felt a pang of recognition. The toy, meant to spread holiday cheer, seemed to capture something deeper about modern life.
The plushie first appeared last year in a shop in eastern China. It has stumpy legs, a golden bell around its neck and lettering on its side that reads, “wishing you instant wealth.” It also bears a conspicuous manufacturing error: Its mouth is sewn upside down, turning what should have been a content smile into a picture of melancholy.
Known as the “crying horse,” the glum toy has become an online sensation in China ahead of the Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest holiday, which begins on Feb. 17. The “crying horse” hashtag has appeared more than 190 million times on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and inspired a winking joke: Take the crying version to work, leave the smiling one at home.
The toy’s sudden popularity has resonated beyond novelty. Many young Chinese workers have embraced it as a symbol of their exhaustion and disillusion.
“Its expression perfectly reflects the helplessness of an office worker,” Ms. Hao said. She bought four, two sad and two smiling.
Such is the horse’s relatability that Zhang Huoqing, the 46-year-old shopkeeper who first sold it, has struggled to meet the demand — both domestic and overseas — of around 15,000 units a day, even after adding a dozen production lines to produce both the crying and smiling versions, according to China’s state broadcaster.
Ms. Zhang, who runs her shop from the world’s largest wholesale small-commodities market in Yiwu, sells most of the toys through offline channels and has recently begun selling them directly via social media video streams. She declined an interview, citing exhaustion.
In the Chinese zodiac, 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse, a cycle that comes around once every 60 years and symbolizes ambition, growth and burning intensity. Many young Chinese workers have embraced the crying horse as a symbol of the opposite.
In past decades, China’s rapid economic growth lifted 800 million people out of poverty and gave rise to a flourishing middle class. But, analysts say, growth and wages have since stagnated, and prospects for social mobility have dimmed. For many young people, the once-idealized life of striving now evokes drudgery, exhaustion and disappointment.
Those sentiments are reflected in the backlash to “996” culture — the expectation of working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, promoted by prominent figures in the country’s tech sector. They can also be seen in online descriptions of modern life as “garbage time,” an American sports term for the final minutes of a game, when the outcome is already decided but players must still go through the motions.
The crying horse joins a growing list of cultural symbols, from “lying flat” to memes about burnout, that reflect a generation questioning the value of relentless work.
Spending and lifestyle habits reflect that disaffection, too. Many young Chinese people now seek relief through rural escapism or by simply staying in bed. They are less inclined to spend money flaunting wealth or material success, and are more likely to seek out items that offer emotional comfort or immediate pleasure — like the sad horse.
Jessica Lan, who works at travel agency in China’s Guangdong Province, said she keeps one on her office desk for company during long workdays.
“I’m a donkey, actually,” she said. “A horse is less tired than me.”
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