‘Parenting’ stuffed orangutans from Ikea trending among millennials and Gen Zs in China

The trend represents the difficulties of bearing children and starting a family in China, according to news outlet Radii. - XIAOHONGSHU

BEIJING (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Many “parents” are emerging on Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, but they are neither married nor pregnant.

Instead, they are “adoptive parents” to stuffed orangutans from Swedish furnishing giant Ikea, reported Radii, an independent media outlet founded in 2017 that focuses on Chinese youth culture. It currently has over 49,000 followers on Instagram and over 10,000 on Twitter.