At Yiwu International Trade City, China’s largest wholesale market, customers crowd into a small shop searching for an unlikely bestseller ahead of the Lunar New Year.

They are looking for a red plush horse with a downturned mouth, a gold bell around its neck, and eyes that appear to shy away from a viewer’s gaze. The toy has gone viral on Chinese social media ahead of the Spring Festival holiday, which this year marks the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac.

Called the “crying horse” by online users, the toy was designed as a happy-faced Lunar New Year decoration, but a manufacturing mistake turned its smile into a frown.

“A worker sewed the mouth on upside down by accident,” said Zhang Huoqing, owner of the Yiwu-based shop Happy Sister.

Zhang said she offered a refund after discovering the flaw, but the customer never returned the toy. Not long after, she discovered photos of it circulating online.

“People joked that the crying horse is how you look at work, while the smiling one is how you look after work,” Zhang said. As demand surged, Zhang decided to keep making the sad-faced version.

Some young white-collar workers in China say the horse's dour expression mirrors their long hours and workplace stress.

It also taps into a broader trend for so-called “ugly-cute” toys, popularised in recent years by characters such as Pop Mart’s 9992.HK toothy monster Labubu.

“These days, almost everyone who walks through the door asks for the crying horse,” said Lou Zhenxian, a Yiwu vendor who has sold festive toys for more than 25 years.

By early afternoon, racks of crying horses outside Happy Sister had sold out and employees were rushing to restock the shelves.

“We will keep selling it,” Zhang said. “This crying horse really fits the reality of modern working people.”

-Nicoco Chan and Chenxi Yang/Reuters