China’s Innovative Toys Shine at the 139th Canton Fair Phase III

The Phase III of the 139th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) is currently underway in Guangzhou, where Chinese enterprises are showcasing a wide range of trendy and cool toys. Featuring functions from warm companionship to health-oriented education and intelligent interaction, these products have won recognition from overseas buyers with their technological innovation and safety advantages.

Despite pressure on China’s toy exports in 2025 due to multiple factors including ongoing geopolitical conflicts, the brand influence and attention of Chinese toys have remained high. China News Service reported that Pop Mart’s LABUBU 3rd Generation vinyl plush keychains have sparked a buying spree in many countries, while Kayo opened its first overseas flagship store in Bangkok, Thailand.

As a traditional Chinese export product, the toy exhibition area of this Canton Fair Phase III displays a full industrial chain of products, including plush toys, eco-friendly plasticine, children’s remote-controlled cars, educational building blocks and Guochao intelligent dolls. These continuously upgraded products have gained popularity in overseas markets.

Artificial intelligence has brought new momentum to China’s toy industry. A smart soothing plush toy for infants, available in giant panda and capybara designs, can be clipped to strollers, carrycots or car seats. Equipped with a voice recognition module, it automatically plays soft music, white noise or soothing melodies when detecting a baby’s cry, helping to distract and calm the baby.

Targeting overseas consumers’ higher environmental requirements, Chinese enterprises are making continuous efforts in raw material selection and technological innovation to secure market orders. Global Network noted that intelligent and interactive toys have achieved remarkable order results at the fair, with some remote-controlled toy cars attracting intended orders of about 200,000 units within a few days.

Educational toys have become a new growth point for China’s toy exports. A magnetic sheet programming enlightenment set guides children to learn programming thinking while playing. The product starts with simple tasks such as “going straight” or “avoiding an obstacle” and gradually progresses to multi-task challenges, encouraging trial and error to foster children’s thinking ability and imagination.

Shantou in Guangdong Province, known as “China’s Toy Capital,” has formed one of the world’s largest toy industrial clusters. Many local enterprises participating in this Canton Fair Phase III present products marked with “intelligence” and “green low-carbon,” demonstrating the achievements of industrial transformation and upgrading.

In March this year, Shantou established an AI Toy Innovation Center to build “China’s AI Toy Capital,” integrating the intelligent upgrading of the toy industry into the city’s key digital economy layout and planning the construction of an “AI + Toy” industrial ecosystem. China News Service reported that Shantou’s toy industry is accelerating its intelligent upgrade with the support of AI technologies, with diverse AI toy layouts including humanoid robots and multi-modal interactive products.

Looking ahead, Chinese toy enterprises will continue to focus on product design innovation and independent brand building to meet the evolving needs of overseas consumers. With the promotion of the “AI + Toy” model, China’s toy industry is expected to achieve higher-quality development, further enhancing its influence in the global market.