‘Sad horse’:  Worker’s mistake at Chinese factory brings great success to the company

A plush toy horse designed as a cheerful Chinese New Year mascot has galloped into unexpected popularity, China Daily writes.

Created for the upcoming Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac, it was originally meant to wear an upturned smile. Instead, due to a production error at a factory in Yiwu, Zhejiang province — widely known as the world’s capital of small commodities — the toy left the assembly line with its mouth stitched into a distinct, down-turned pout.

“It was simply a worker’s mistake — the mouth was sewn upside down,” factory owner Zhang Huoqing said in an interview on Friday.

The story began when a social media user in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, received the flawed toy and contacted customer service to request a replacement. After posting photos of its melancholic expression online, the plush unexpectedly surged to fame.

Netizens quickly dubbed it the “cry-cry horse”.

The factory in Yiwu seized the moment with remarkable speed, pivoting production almost overnight. The number of assembly lines dedicated to the toy expanded from two to more than 10, with workers now meticulously trained to replicate the signature “sad” mouth — the very flaw they had once been instructed to avoid.

The identity of the original artisan responsible for the error remains unknown. Zhang said the company would award a bonus to the entire production team in recognition of their role in the toy’s unexpected success.