China’s latest hot export is a US$50 toy Russian fighter jet that ‘will never break’, helped by social media such as TikTok

The fighter jet toy, with a price tag of less than US$50 on e-commerce sites such as eBay and Amazon, has gained popularity for its affordability

Videos of the toy on Douyin gained popularity in the domestic market before some users posted on Western social media such as Facebook

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A remote control toy jet from China has gone viral on social media. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 2:00pm, 18 Jun 2022Updated: 5:34pm, 18 Jun 2022

A China-made toy fighter jet has gone viral on social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook, with high demand putting pressure on factories in the Zhejiang province manufacturing hub to ship more products abroad.

Wang Sen, sales manager of Zhejiang Zhiyang Shiye Ltd, one of the main makers of the remote-controlled toy said overseas orders have doubled in the past year after demonstration videos made by the company started to gain attention on TikTok around the end of 2021.

Some of the viral short videos feature a middle-aged man in a suit showing the durability and operation of the remote-controlled fighter jet, which is modelled after a jet from former Russian aerospace company Mikoyan (MiG).

In one of the videos, a man – standing on a factory floor – makes a funny face with bulging eyes, and bends the soft wings of the jet so that the cockpit sits in his hand, showing the flexibility of the toy which is made from polypropylene foam. It is so light and soft that some reviewers have said the plane “will never break” if it crashes. He then throws the jet into the air and using the remote control flies it in a loop so that it lands back in the palm of his hand.

Wang said the company has promoted these videos on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app, gaining popularity in the domestic market, before some users posted and circulated them on overseas platforms such as Facebook and YouTube too.

The company, which makes various remote control toys, is still focused on the domestic market, with only 20 to 30 per cent of orders coming from its export partners to ship to overseas markets – including the US – according to Wang, who declined to share specific sales figures.

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