{"id":49152,"date":"2026-01-16T08:35:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/?p=49152"},"modified":"2026-01-16T08:36:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:36:48","slug":"crying-horse-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A factory slip-up in eastern China has accidentally produced one of the Year of the Horse\u2019s most relatable mascots: Crying Horse (\u54ed\u54ed\u5417) a bright red pony that looks on the verge of tears.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toy, a 20cm lucky horse selling for around RMB 25 (about US $4) was designed to do what New Years merch always does \u2013 signal prosperity<\/a>. It comes embroidered with a gold blessing for wealth, and red fur meant to bring festive cheer. But a sewing error flipped the facial expression, pulling the mouth and nostrils downward, and turning the intended smile into a full-on sob. Instead of killing the product, the mistake gave it personality.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Crying
Crying Horse. Image: \u6cb3\u7554<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a photo of the crying horse circulated online, the seller initially treated it like a defect and offered replacements. Netizens disagreed. They didn\u2019t want the corrected version. They wanted the one that looked like it had just finished a brutal week at the office.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then meme value hit<\/a>. China\u2019s young workers have a long-running joke, calling themselves cattle and horses to signify being constantly overworked, replaceable and permanently exhausted. The crying horse fit the mood.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
You can see the original version of the face in the bottom horse. Image: Rednote\/\u54d2\u54d2\u54d2<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Comments on social media ran wild: \u2018Put the crying one at the office, keep the smiling one at home. For us working stiffs, the dream of \u201cmoney coming fast\u201d can\u2019t be missed.\u2019 One poster on reddit, even called our disbelief, saying: \u20182026 bull market, believe it or not.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was predictable in the only way the Chinese internet can be. Orders surged. Production lines multiplied<\/strong>. The flaw became the feature. The company that manufactures the product is now also talking about turning the crying horse into an IP<\/a>. Expect pillows, keyrings and all manner of spin-off products to follow.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year of the horse was supposed to signify energy, progress and resilience. In the end, this viral trend has given this year\u2019s zodiac a more contemporary twist: keep moving, but don\u2019t pretend you\u2019re fine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A factory slip-up in eastern China has accidentally produced one of the Year of the Horse\u2019s most relatable mascots: Crying Horse (\u54ed\u54ed\u5417) a bright red pony that looks on the verge of tears.   The toy, a 20cm lucky horse selling for around RMB 25 (about US $4) was designed to do what New Years merch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[68],"class_list":["post-49152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-industries-society-culture","has-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCrying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A crying horse becomes the new mascot of China's overworked youth after a factory mishap reverses a doll's happy face.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A crying horse becomes the new mascot of China's overworked youth after a factory mishap reverses a doll's happy face.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dao Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T08:35:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T08:36:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1204\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dao Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dao Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dao Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978\"},\"headline\":\"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T08:35:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-16T08:36:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":359,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Industries - Society & Culture\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2026\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/\",\"name\":\"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T08:35:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-16T08:36:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"A crying horse becomes the new mascot of China's overworked youth after a factory mishap reverses a doll's happy face.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1204},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/crying-horse-china\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dao Insights\",\"description\":\"News, trends, and case studies from China\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Dao Insights\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Dao-red-high-res.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Dao-red-high-res.png\",\"width\":2400,\"height\":2400,\"caption\":\"Dao Insights\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978\",\"name\":\"Dao Team\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot","description":"A crying horse becomes the new mascot of China's overworked youth after a factory mishap reverses a doll's happy face.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot","og_description":"A crying horse becomes the new mascot of China's overworked youth after a factory mishap reverses a doll's happy face.","og_url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/","og_site_name":"Dao Insights","article_published_time":"2026-01-16T08:35:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-16T08:36:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1204,"url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dao Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dao Team","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/"},"author":{"name":"Dao Team","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978"},"headline":"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-01-16T08:35:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-16T08:36:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/"},"wordCount":359,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg","keywords":["Industries - Society & Culture"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2026","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/","name":"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-16T08:35:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-16T08:36:48+00:00","description":"A crying horse becomes the new mascot of China's overworked youth after a factory mishap reverses a doll's happy face.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\u662f\u8c01\u8fd8\u6ca1\u62e5\u6709\u6253\u5de5\u9a6c\uff01\uff1f_1_\u884c\u4eba_\u6765\u81ea\u5c0f\u7ea2\u4e66\u7f51\u9875\u724811.jpg","width":2048,"height":1204},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/crying-horse-china\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crying Horse: The Year of the Horse gets a sad new mascot\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/","name":"Dao Insights","description":"News, trends, and case studies from China","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization","name":"Dao Insights","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Dao-red-high-res.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Dao-red-high-res.png","width":2400,"height":2400,"caption":"Dao Insights"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978","name":"Dao Team"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}