In the film Forrest Gump (《阿甘正传》), there’s a famous saying: “Life is like a box of chocolate; you never know what you’re gonna get.” It’s the same with blind boxes (盲盒).

Each of these small, sealed (密封的) boxes has one of many toy figures in a series (系列的) inside. The buyer doesn’t know which figure they’ve got until they open the box. The start of blind boxes can be dated back to lucky bags sold in Japan from the late 1860s. In recent years it becomes big business in China.

During the Double 11 shopping festival, POP MART, a leading blind box company in China, sold 55,000 LABUBU dolls on Tmall in just 9 seconds according to a Tmall report.

One reason for their popularity is the lovely look of the figures inside the boxes. They’re like small cartoon characters. They can be put anywhere in your home to make your home more beautiful and lovely. But another, perhaps more important reason people like them is the fun of being surprised. “The most interesting thing about blind boxes is the gap between what you expect and what you get.” said Wen Xi, a blind box collector from Beijing. The excitement of getting the exact thing you want is like winning the lottery.

The boxes are certainly enjoyable to some. However, others worry that children might spend too much money on these toys. “The blind box economy makes use of gambling psychology (赌博心理),” said Liu Chunsheng, “young people want to look for the excitement brought by higher risks, which leads to impulse buying (即兴购买).” Last year, over 200,0 Chinese customers spent more than 20, 000 yuan collecting blind boxes. Most of them were Generation Z (those born after 1995), according to a report by Tmall.