China's Collectible Card Craze
A trading card resurgence, led by China's youth, could ignite a new pop culture wave.
Inside a Kayou flagship store in Beijing, young visitors peruse thick binders filled with collectible trading cards from diverse IPs, coming to trade, chat, and expand their collections—a hobby sparking fresh connections for China's next generation.
For many, trading cards are laced with nostalgia, with memories of classic IPs like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic: The Gathering from the 1990s laying fertile ground for a new wave of trading card enthusiasm.
Today's youth are diving into cards from fresh IPs like Ultraman, My Little Pony, and Kayou's Three Kingdoms.
- Data from 36Kr shows My Little Pony cards as a top topic on Xiaohongshu this year, even surpassing Pop Mart's Labubu in popularity.
- A 36Kr survey found that 36.15% of young Chinese have collected cards, second only to book and toy collectors.
This trading card craze has swept through China's younger generation.
No specific quote available.
Author's summary: China's youth drive a growing trading card market with Kayou and major IPs.