SHANGHAI: A navy-style hat, a beige coat and a pair of wide-leg jeans might look like the makings of a casual weekend outfit.
On Li Han’s desk, however, the ensemble was being carefully styled on a palm-sized doll.
Li, a 24-year-old college student in Beijing, had just returned from a doll exhibition, bringing home miniature dresses, handmade hats and a lighted retro-style display cabinet.
Piece by piece, she arranged them on her desk, creating a miniature scene for her doll – and a quiet break from her busy routine.
“I’ve always had a soft spot for handmade pieces,” she said.
For Li, dressing her doll and setting up a tiny home for it offers a quiet pause from the rush of daily life.
“Each piece carries the maker’s thought and care. Some are one of a kind, which makes them feel even more special.”
The miniature dresses, handmade hats and miniature furniture on Li’s desk reflect the rising popularity of doll outfits and accessories.
Designed specifically for dolls, the outfits range from everyday wear to traditional Chinese styles such as the mamianqun (horse face skirt), and qipao, also known as cheongsam, as well as costumes inspired by China’s ethnic groups and designs referencing intangible cultural heritage.
Meanwhile, in Xiangyang, a city in Hubei province, power employee Liu Sisi invited a group of clients to visit an intelligent monitoring hall of State Grid Xiangyang, where a humanoid robot equipped with 43 flexible joints monitors screens with unwavering focus.
Operating 24/7 without interruption at the Jiangbei control centre, it captures real-time data from 96 substations, serving as an “artificial intelligence (AI) guardian” for the city’s power grid.
The visitors were amazed that the Unitree G1 robot, the first humanoid power-grid monitoring robot in the State Grid Hubei electric power system, marked an innovative breakthrough in human-machine collaboration in grid monitoring.
“We are not only showcasing technology, but also exploring the experience economy in energy services,” said Liu, a deputy team leader at the Jiangbei power station.
This is just the tip of the experience economy.
Back to Li’s case, as China’s designer toy market continues to expand, doll outfits are carving out a growing market of their own.
Once a niche hobby, doll styling is gaining traction among young consumers like Li, who see it not only as a form of self- expression, but also as an enjoyable hands-on way to unwind from study, work and busy schedules.
The trend has gathered momentum across China over the past year, with doll exhibitions spreading to more major cities.
The Nice Mini World Doll Expo, a touring exhibition that has drawn a growing following among doll enthusiasts, is expected to stage about 20 shows across China this year, organisers said.
Having just returned from a doll exhibition, Li said the growing crowd was hard to miss.
“There were long lines at many of the popular booths, and most visitors were young people around my age,” she said.
The growing crowds come amid broader momentum in China’s designer and collectible toy market.
Retail sales of designer and collectible toys in China reached 67.69 billion yuan in 2025, up 45.4% year-on-year (y-o-y), said the China Toy and Juvenile Products Association.
Wang Peng, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said the popularity of doll outfits and exhibitions reflected young consumers’ desire for relaxation, self-expression and hands-on participation.
“They are not just buying the items themselves. For many consumers, the appeal lies in the process of dressing and styling their dolls, which brings a sense of accomplishment and emotional connection,” Wang said.
Such enthusiasm reflects a broader shift in China’s consumer market.
Instead of focusing solely on what they buy, many consumers are placing greater value on the experiences, emotional value and a sense of participation that come with a purchase.
That shift has brought the experience economy into sharper focus.
As China’s service consumption continues to upgrade, businesses are increasingly looking to create products and services that offer not only utility, but also personal involvement, emotional resonance and deeper engagement.
“The experience economy represents a shift from functional value to emotional value,” said Chen Lifen, a researcher at the Development Research Centre of the State Council.
Consumers are paying not only for the practical use of a product or service, but also for the feelings, social connections and sense of fulfilment generated during the process, Chen said.
The researcher added that the growth of the services sector has created fertile ground for the experience economy, as consumers increasingly value personalised, engaging and emotionally meaningful experiences.
The latest figures show that China’s service retail sales rose 5.5% y-o-y in 2025, 1.7 percentage points faster than goods retail sales, while spending on services accounted for 46.1% of per-capita consumer expenditure, said Kang Yi, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, at a news conference in January. — China Daily/ANN
