Lego builds on strong success in China as playful children discover their creative side
Sales of Danish company’s toys surge more than 50 per cent in two years as mainland parents recognise that playing with interlocking plastic bricks boosts inventiveness
Every weekend four-year-old Yuanzi makes a 30-minute trip from his Shanghai home so he can take a one-hour class that teaches him to play with small interlocking plastic Lego blocks.
His parents, both white-collar workers at foreign companies in the city, believe the time it takes and 130 yuan (HK$165) cost of the activity at the Lego Education Centre in the city’s Jinqiao district, are worthwhile because it is helping to improve his logical and creative thinking.
“He likes it,” said Yuanzi’s mother, Sue Jin.
“His kindergarten offers various after-school classes, such as Lego, Chinese chess, and painting, but Lego is the first to be filled up, so we have to do it outside of school.”
Lego products – the whole idea of creative play experiences – is something that resonates strongly with Chinese consumers
Lego and other block toys that offer children a creative experience while they are playing, have been growing in popularity as the country continues its vigorous drive towards greater inventiveness – a quality for which Chinese people have traditionally had little ability.
Premier Li Keqiang has been a strong advocate of innovation – a move backed by Jin and many other typical mainland parents.