Horse Toy with Factory Defect turns out to to be a hit during Lunar New Year

Recently, a new trend hit stores, and it’s success has come as a surprise to many. The “Crying Horse” is a red horse plushie. It wears a golden neck collar with a bell and an upside down smile. Although designed to be smiling normally, a factory employee accidentally sewed one horse’s mouth on upside down. After a few days of being in stores, this red plushie went viral, with photos of it spreading across traveling online in the Chinese media.

The first Crying Horse appeared in a small shop named Happy Sister, located in Zhejiang Province, Yiwu International Trade City. As it became more popular, store owner Zhang Huo Ching decided to make more of this silly looking plushie.

After going viral, the Crying Horse began spreading domestically and internationally. Zhang stated that the main reason that this factory defect went so big was because it represented the mood of people recently, with overwork and anxiety common for many. However, many people like to pair the frowning horse with a smiling one, with the frowning one representing the mood at work and the smiling one representing the mood during holidays. Zhang hopes for the Crying Horse to further spread and create an even bigger frenzy among young people.