Awareness Campaign Group

One of my Chinese counterparts sent me this sad little fella. It’s from Yiwu, south of Shanghai, China’s biggest manufacturing region for small items. Yiwu-based toy maker Happy Sister was recently rolling out its Happy Horse plush toy to commemorate the upcoming Year of the Horse on the Chinese lunar calendar. But some sleepy machine operator sewed the horse’s wee muzzle on upside-down on a few hundred and they were automatically shipped to stores. Happy Sister started a recall, but meanwhile the flawed toy became a hit with overworked Chinese salarymen, who see the sad cow as reflective of their “996” grind of long hours and short pay. Now Happy Sister can hardly keep up with orders for more of the “Cry Cry Horse.” Quam felix culpa.

ralphie and I hunkered down for the duration