A Defective Toy Made by Mistake Becomes a Hit in China: "It Feels Just Like Me at Work"

The Sad Red Horse Doll Becomes a Sensation
NYT: "A New Symbol of Burnout Among Young People"

A horse doll with an upside-down stitched mouth, giving it a sad expression due to a manufacturing error, has resonated strongly with Chinese office workers and has emerged as the most popular item for the Lunar New Year holiday.

A red horse doll with a sad face caused by a manufacturing defect is gaining popularity among young people in China. Screenshot from the Chinese social networking service Rednote

According to the New York Times on January 30, this doll, created to celebrate the Year of the Red Horse (Byeong-o) in 2026, first appeared last year at a store in eastern China. While other dolls with bright faces wished for good fortune, this horse doll looked as if it was about to burst into tears.

The red horse doll was originally designed to feature a bright smile, a golden bell around its neck, and a well-wishing message on its side that reads, "May you become wealthy soon" (Masangbaljae). However, due to a production mistake, the corners of its mouth were sewn in the opposite direction, resulting in an expression that looked as though it was about to cry.

Chinese young people, however, have expressed strong empathy for the dejected look of this red horse. Many say its expression resembles their own, worn out from overwork at their companies. The doll has even earned the nickname "Kukuma," which means "crying horse" in Chinese, and has become a hot topic. On Chinese social networking services, hashtags related to Kukuma have surpassed 1.9 billion views. Among office workers, a joke has spread: "Let's buy both the crying and smiling horse dolls-keep the crying one at work and the smiling one at home."

As Kukuma has become the most popular item of the new year, production sites have gone into emergency mode. The seller who first introduced the doll in Yiwu, the world's largest general merchandise market, has expanded the production line by more than ten to keep up with the surge in orders, yet still struggles to meet daily sales of up to 15,000 units.

Crying Horse (Kukuma) Sold at a Store in Shanghai, China. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

Experts say that the irony of this craze is heightened by the fact that 2026 is the "Year of the Red Horse," which returns once every 60 years. While the red horse symbolizes ambition, growth, and burning intensity, young Chinese workers have instead chosen a tired, gloomy-looking horse as their symbol. This reflects the grim reality in China, where the rapid economic growth that lifted 800 million people out of poverty has stalled, wages are stagnating, and the ladder of social mobility is breaking down. Foreign media have commented, "For many young people, the once-idealized 'hard-working life' is now associated with grueling labor, exhaustion, and disappointment."

Recently, the sports term "garbage time," which refers to the final minutes of a game when the outcome is already decided, has spread as a new expression of young people's sense of helplessness. Foreign media have also noted that the sad horse doll has joined the list of symbols representing burnout-extreme fatigue and loss of motivation-among China's younger generation. They added that young people are increasingly seeking items that provide emotional comfort or instant joy, rather than flaunting wealth or material success in their consumption habits.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.