An expensive toy has become a luxury item in China.
The country’s new high-end toys are so expensive that many parents are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of yuan ($2,000) for them.
The popularity of these toys, which range from plush toys to huge, plastic ones, has helped drive the value of the country’s currency, the renminbi, to record highs.
The price of toys in China has surged by nearly 100% since the start of the year.
Inflation in China is now running at over 50% a year.
But while the economy is growing, Chinese parents are also struggling to buy the toys.
They can’t afford to keep them, even for the holidays.
“People are worried about how they are going to feed their families and what will happen if they lose their jobs,” said Yang, a mother of three who works at a kindergarten in southern China’s Heilongjiang province.
Yang said she has bought six toys over the past month.
She said she spent up to 100,000 yuan ($12,500) on her son’s latest toy, a toy for his older brother.
The toys are sold in China as high-quality goods for more than a decade.
The Chinese toy industry has grown rapidly in recent years and is now one of the fastest-growing in the world, with a global market worth about $8 billion.
Its popularity has grown thanks to a surge in the price of imported goods.
Chinese companies have been trying to compete with overseas rivals such as the United States and Japan in the global toy market, but some of their products are more expensive than others.
“Chinese companies are making money off cheap toys,” said Jia Chen, a senior lecturer in economics at the University of Sussex.
“But there is still a lot of pressure on them to make products that are even more expensive.”
The new toys in question include a $4.8 million toy for toddlers and a $1.4 million toy that costs about $80.
The Chinese toys are all handmade by a small group of toy factories and are designed to appeal to a younger generation.
“These toys have been made for children that are just starting to grow up and they are being produced for people who want to have fun,” said Chen.
A group of boys in a factory in Heilingsberg, eastern China’s Shandong province, play with a $400,000 plastic doll.
(Xinhua/Yang Xiaohong)China’s toys are marketed to a generation that has grown up with internet connectivity, but a growing number of Chinese families are also buying them for their kids.
“They are trying to make a good impression on their kids and they want to give them an experience that they can relate to,” said Yin Yang, director of the Beijing-based Centre for Consumer Culture.
“We are all very familiar with digital goods.
I am sure there is something to be said for the way these toys are designed.”
In the past, the Chinese toy market was dominated by imported toys.
However, after the financial crisis, Chinese companies were able to sell their products at an attractive price.
In 2010, the country imported almost 60% of its toys.
In 2015, the market was valued at about $4 billion, and the country accounted for half of the global market.
China has also set a target to produce 80% of all toys by 2020.
But the economy remains weak, and a lot more people are struggling to pay the high prices.
In addition, the government has imposed a raft of curbs on the sale of toys.
“The Chinese market is very different now from the years of the last few decades,” said Yuhan Huang, a professor of economics at Hong Kong’s Hong Kong University.
“In a way, the situation has gotten much worse.”
China is struggling to balance its budget, which is expected to hit a record $1 trillion this year.
The government is trying to boost its manufacturing sector, which has struggled to maintain its manufacturing output.
But some experts fear that it will take years for the economy to recover.
“China is facing a very tough situation,” said Guo Yushi, director-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, a government body that advises the central government on economic and social issues.
“It is very hard to see how things will recover in the short term.
We are seeing a lot less activity.”
