A new craze has swept through Urumqi and is moving quickly across Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
An army of plush toy sheep has formed a stronghold in the Erdaoqiao community of Tianshan district, a century-old grassroots trading hub for ethnic products and a popular tourist hot spot.
Visitors stepping into the landmark Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar, or the nearby Jinquan mall, will find themselves immersed in a shepherd's dream — surrounded by squishy, well-appointed lambs.
The uninitiated might even start to wonder: Do the sheep now flooding the streets of Urumqi outnumber those grazing on the vast, magnificent grasslands of Narat or Bayanbulak?
The particular species romping, unfettered, through the regional capital has a disarming smile, big round eyes and wears Uygur or Kazak headgear, gauzy skirts or Xinjiang's iconic Atlas silk, and can often be found covered in colorful, shiny gem-like accessories.
It doesn't have a formal name yet. Some call it the "Xinjiang Labubu", but that doesn't do justice to the tens of thousands of iterations from across the region and beyond. Each sheep is tailor-made. The buyer chooses the decorations and tells the vendor how they want their toy sheep styled, and each one is expertly assembled on the spot.
At the epicenter of this woolly mammoth of a trend is 19-year-old Abdulla Amirila. Short videos of him, a tall, handsome guy with a slicked-back hairdo, carefully decorating little cuddly sheep while chatting with customers, went viral on social media around mid-May, sparking nationwide sheep hysteria.
Online, these adorable companions now appear aboard flights and bullet trains, traveling across Xinjiang, and then back home with their new owners.
The past two months must have been a whirlwind, but clearly overwhelming. "I'm pretty happy about it," Abdulla Amirila told China Daily.
"I'll get to yours," he says, pointing to one customer, "after I finish yours," he adds, pointing to another, in one viral clip where he is surrounded by crowds waiting to buy the sheep toys. After each order, he is usually asked to pose for a group photo.
A basic lamb with headpiece, earrings, necklace and rhinestones takes two or three minutes, and a skirt adds a couple more, pushing it to five or six, said Abdulla Amirila, who turns out about 400 sheep a day. However, he said he hasn't yet run out of ideas. A regular sheep costs 40 yuan ($5.90), while one with a skirt is 60 yuan.
The stall gives out 150 line-up tickets daily from 9:30 am. Each customer is limited to three lambs — one skirted and two regular. Online orders run alongside, with 150 lambs a day being made by Abdulla Amirila or his family.
Ma Bojie, a visitor in his 40s from Tianjin, said he had lined up for two days straight starting at 6 am to snag sheep for family and friends back home. One 41-year-old traveler from Harbin, Heilongjiang province, said she came straight from the airport. After waiting three hours and still in line, she noted it was worth it just to see the toys' handsome creator.
At the Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar's Jianglaicheng cultural-commercial complex, there is an area where visitors can have a go at making their own. Parents come with children, lovers craft shared memories, and some boyfriends can be seen picking accessories and handling glue guns under the watchful eyes of their girlfriends via video calls.
It's hard to tell which of the more than 1,000 business owners at the Jinquan mall came up with the idea of dressing up the lambs, but the competition — a battle of creativity and style — is fierce.
Mamatjan Munup has introduced rarer, curly-fleeced lambs in gray and brown, along with distinctive accessories and purple or navy-blue eyes. Maryamgul Mamat, a housewife-turned-vendor, has been designing and sewing her own Atlas silk skirts for the lambs at home and creating luxurious lamb "couples" for wedding souvenirs, rather than using trinkets commonly sold at Jinquan for decoration.
Her teenage daughter Yusum Mahmut, who helps out during summer break, put it simply:"Everyone has their own style. It's about chemistry. If it clicks, you'll probably like my lambs."
Hu Dongyue contributed to this story.
