哭哭马

What does 哭哭马 mean?

A plush horse with its mouth sewn on upside down, so it looks permanently close to tears. That is 哭哭马, and it landed at exactly the right moment: 2026 is the Year of the Horse, and 马 already sits inside 牛马, the word people use for themselves as beasts of burden. Owners photograph it on their desks, hand one to a colleague, or announce on a Monday or a deadline day that they are 哭哭马 today. The humour is soft and aimed inward, a cute way to concede that you are running on empty.

Where does 哭哭马 come from?

Yiwu, January 2026. A factory there was making Year of the Horse plushes, and on one batch the smiling mouth got sewn on upside down, leaving the toy with a face full of grief. A shopper in Hangzhou posted about it, the topic hit the top of Weibo’s trending list and drew more than 1.9 billion views on Douyin and the supposed defect became a bestseller. Xinhua and other outlets reported that the factory ramped up production and started receiving orders from abroad.

How to use 哭哭马

• 周一早上的我，就是一只哭哭马。
  Zhōuyī zǎoshang de wǒ, jiù shì yì zhī kū kū mǎ.
  Me on a Monday morning: one crying horse.
• 同事送了我一只哭哭马，说跟我加班的表情一模一样。
  Tóngshì sòng le wǒ yì zhī kū kū mǎ, shuō gēn wǒ jiābān de biǎoqíng yìmú-yíyàng.
  A coworker gave me a crying horse plush and said it looks exactly like my face during overtime.