Children play with Transformers at a toy exhibition in Beijing. The rising purchasing power of Chinese children has attracted many toy companies. Chen Xiaogen / for China Daily

As International toy companies are expanding in China, the value of recreation is getting more play

For Wang Ye, a 33-year-old full-time housewife in Beijing, it's difficult to understand how a simple toy truck can distract her 15-month-old son for hours at a time. Wang, who said she had more experience with books than with toys as a child, takes her son to the Joy City Shopping Mall in the capital's Xidan neighborhood about three times a week. She said her son is able to sit in a toy store for more than an hour without wanting his mother. That worries her. What if he becomes addicted to toys? What if he keeps asking for more and more toy trucks?

"The daughter of my cousin is about 4 years old now, and no matter how many toys her mother buys, she still asks for new ones," Wang says.

Wang is among China's latest generation of new parents in their late 20s and early 30s who are stuck in a parental conundrum. Many of their own parents preached education over playtime, hard work over leisure. But after three decades under the one-child policy in China and rapid economic growth, in which more affluent families are focusing all their attention on the baby - and new parents often believe the easiest way to take care of their elderly parents (as required by law) is by living with them - there are plenty of adults looking after and spending on the only child in the apartment. The opportunities for the toy industry are obviously plentiful.

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"Nowadays, kids are very lucky to have so many fancy places to be and so many options to play with," Wang says.

But in order to get more parents and grandparents to frequent toy stores, companies are hoping that recreation is seen as a more important part of child rearing. So what should a toy company in China do to be more successful, especially in a country where the average annual expense on toys for each child, rural or urban, in China is less than 30 yuan (approximately $4.80)? The figure ranks far behind the average on the Asian continent at $13 per year.

Fortunately, there are more than 400 million Chinese children aged 14 or younger. China is also the toy mecca, manufacturing more than 70 percent of the toys in the world, and its toy market is expected to double to 60 billion yuan by 2015 from 2010, according to the China Toy and Juvenile Product Association.

One resource that companies can use to find clues as to what strategy reaps success in China's toy industry is the shopping mall, according to industry experts. Many major toy companies, such as the Walt Disney Co, Lego, Toys "R" Us, and Mattel, have expanded their sales coverage in China within the past three years.

At the Joy City Shopping Mall in Beijing where Wang frequents, there are about 20 retail stores catered to children, including a massive Toys "R" Us at 1,300 square meters. Retail stores for children, experts say, are highly welcomed by commercial real estate companies in China. In a shopping mall, these toy stores can attract more customers and at the same time enhance sales figures in retail, dining and entertainment for the mall, according to Joy City Shopping Mall representatives.