Visitors look at hand-painted cartoon characters like Ne Zha in the Honggutan district of Nanchang, East China's Jiangxi Province, on February 17, 2025.  Photos on this page: VCG

"Riding the Wind and Fire Wheels while holding the Red Tassel Spear." - This is not a scene from an animated movie, but a real moment that occurred at the opening ceremony of a primary school in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality! 

On the first day of school, many elementary school students across China dressed up as the Chinese mythological character Ne Zha. The "Ne Zha hairstyle" has also become the trendiest back-to-school look.

Recently, with Ne Zha 2 breaking the 12-billion-yuan ($1.65 billion) mark at the box office and becoming the biggest winner of the Spring Festival season, the mythological figure of Ne Zha is sweeping the nation in a younger and trendier fashion. From campus performances to cultural tourism, from city landmarks to specialty foods, a nationwide "cultural carnival" has been ignited.

If the movie is the starting point of the craze, then the Ne Zha-themed merchandise made in collaboration with the movie has brought traditional culture to new heights of "playfulness." During the Spring Festival holiday, blind boxes, cards, and badges featuring characters like Ne Zha or Ao Bing, a popular figure in Ne Zha 2, became highly sought-after items among young people.

At several stores of Pop Mart, a leading company in the trendy toy market in China, Ne Zha 2 blind boxes were displayed in the most prominent locations. However, these stores only had display items available as there was nothing in stock for sale. 

"You could still buy them during the holiday, but as the movie got more and more popular, the difficulty in purchasing them skyrocketed. I regret not buying them earlier," Helen Yang, a fan of trendy toys, told the Global Times.

In the movie, the reimagining of Ne Zha with lotus-pink skin has sparked a rise in the popularity of lotus roots. Restaurants in Beijing, among other places, have launched Ne Zha-themed menus featuring dishes such as pork rib lotus root soup and spicy lotus root cubes, according to the news outlet china.com.

On Shenzhen's Minzhi Street in South China's Guangdong Province, a Ne Zha-themed graffiti wall became a popular spot for photos. Many citizens specifically visited to take pictures after learning of the film's record-breaking success, the Guangming Daily reported.

Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, told the Global Times that Ne Zha has profound traditional cultural significance while also incorporating many innovative elements. 

"The success of Ne Zha 2 also proves that there is a significant demand for cultural consumption in China," he said. "The strong demand for high-quality cultural products reflects the powerful appeal of domestic cultural IPs and demonstrates a marked increase in national cultural confidence, which will provide strong momentum for the innovative development of China's cultural industry."

Locals take photos in front of a vibrant Ne Zha-themed graffiti wall that has gained popularity in the Longhua district of Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, on February 16, 2025.

Shoppers explore the Ne Zha 2 blind box toys at the global flagship store of Pop Mart in East China's Shanghai on February 17, 2025.

Students dressed as Ne Zha glide on roller skates to greet their classmates during the opening of the spring semester at a primary school in the Tianjin Municipality in North China on February 17, 2025.

People pose for photos in front of movie posters for Ne Zha 2 in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, during a series of cultural activities related to the movie on February 12, 2025.

Visitors flock to the Hebei Museum in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province, to see a bronze burner from the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-AD25) that resembles the Seven-Colored Lotus from the popular film Ne Zha 2 on February 18, 2025.