An exhibition featuring Labubu is held in Beijing on June 18 , 2025. Photo: VCG

A survey of 80,000 cultural and related enterprises above the designated size in China showed that the cultural enterprises achieved operating revenues of 7.13 trillion yuan ($993 billion) in the first half of 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent, data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday. 

Among them, 16 divisions under the culture sector with prominent characteristics of emerging cultural forms raked in operating revenue of 3.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.6 percent, which is 6.2 percentage points faster than all cultural enterprises above the designated size. 

In breakdown, culture-related manufacturing achieved operating revenues of 1.9944 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.1 percent.

The explosive popularity of Labubu and similar creations has thrust China's cultural industry into the spotlight. Chinese toy company Pop Mart - the company behind trendy toy Labubu -said on July 15 that the group expects company revenue for the first half of this year to grow by no less than 200 percent year-on-year, and its profit is expected to grow by no less than 350 percent year-on-year.

According to the previous financial reports, the company achieved revenue of 4.56 billion yuan in the first half of last year. In 2024, the company achieved full-year revenue of 13.04 billion yuan. 

Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 shattered multiple box office records, becoming the first film to cross $1 billion in a single market and the first non-Hollywood title to join the coveted billion-dollar club.

On May 13, Enlight Media said that the majority of the company's Nezha IP licensing business involves sales sharing, and related derivatives cover most of the products such as blind boxes, plush figures, toys and acrylic products, totaling more than 30 categories and more than 200 products.

The derivative merchandise of Ne Zha 2 could surpass 100 billion yuan, Wang Changtian, chairman of Enlight Media, the major investor of the Ne Zha franchise, said in June. 

Chinese enterprises in the cultural sector and related businesses saw their combined revenue hit a record high in 2024, NBS data showed. The total revenue rose 7.1 percent year on year in 2024 to 19.14 trillion yuan, according to NBS.

NBS data showed that in 2024, nine major sectors of the cultural industry achieved widespread revenue growth. Among them, the cultural equipment manufacturing, news and information services, content creation, and creative design services experienced rapid revenue increases, growing by 11.2 percent, 8.6 percent, 8.4 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Global Times