In fact, I am reluctant to talk about the report related to 2015, because the time distance is too far away, and it feels like looking through a photo album that is already covered with dust.
Those clichéd situations that appear to be homogeneous and low-end, causing manufacturers to be unwilling to invest, are still worrying as it is almost March in 2026.
We have been walking for ten years, why are we still standing still?
In other words, is the “progress” we think of just a false prosperity?
The soul of a city is trapped in the refrigerator magnet
In the past few days, I read related news reports and mentioned that the current refrigerator magnet has become a popular and loved "new favorite" item. Young people use it to collect memories left during their travels, and even visit a city just for a phoenix crown-style refrigerator magnet.
Sounds pretty good, right?
But when the reporter walked to Wangfujing and Nanluoguxiang, he was dumbfounded.
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the Temple of Heaven, the front door building, changes one color, changes the painting style, and is displayed in the window of each store like an assembly line.
The merchants were also very aggrieved: the products were too different and they were afraid they wouldn’t sell.
This is not a souvenir, it is clearly industrial saccharine , as sweet as ever.
When did we start buying the “same style” nostalgia?
Very strange.
When we go to Xiamen, shouldn’t the smell of the sea breeze be what we want to take home?
As a result, everything you can see is "literary and artistic" wholesale in Yiwu Small Commodity Market.
Going to Pingtan, what I expected to see was a dreamy scene like blue tears, but what I ended up taking away was shell wind chimes that looked similar to other seaside cities.
A friend returned from Tibet and what he took out of his bag was the kind of "ethnic style" bracelet that can also be purchased in Nanluo, Beijing.
He smiled bitterly and said that he should just pay an IQ tax.
I suddenly felt sad.
We spend a lot of money to travel far away, but in the end we buy back a pile of garbage "nearby".
But there are also people who are trying to "jailbreak"
Fortunately, there is always someone who refuses to give up.
For example, take the "City Seal" event held in Nanjing. In order to collect all the seals, you have to travel to every corner of the city.
A small chapter turned the whole city into a playground.
There is also Nanjing Hongshan Zoo, which is even more amazing.
Their creative inspiration came from a lonely wolf and a coquettish monkey in the garden.
Visitors pay 70 yuan for admission, and can finally take home their "animal friends" for 400 yuan.
What they are buying is not a stuffed toy, they are buying a relationship .
This is what a souvenir should be, right?
It's not perfect, it even has burrs, but you can feel the body heat on the back.
Emotional value?
No, it's the "anchor" of memory
Many people say that consumption now values "emotional value", but I don't think that's enough.
Travel souvenirs should be the anchor of that time in real life.
For example, the father and son in Qinzhou who are engaged in making Nixing pottery can spend 50 yuan to experience the activity of playing with mud for half an hour. For an additional 20 yuan, they can mail the finished product home.
The cup had the crooked handprint of a child on it. Many years later, he pointed at the cup and said, "I made this when I was 5 years old during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Horse."
In addition, there is a shadow sculpture in Huihe, Xiamen. There is a craftsman who takes a steel chisel and "embroiders" it bit by bit on the stone. In the depth of light and shadow, a whole year's prayers are hidden.
This is not buying anything, this is carving a moment into eternity.
What exactly do we want to “bring home”?
So you see, the problem is not actually a situation like "the production scale is small, the update speed is fast, and the manufacturers are not willing to invest".
My heart is dead.
What if we allowed ourselves, and those who work in technology, to slow down and make something that has no practical effect but is full of heart?
Even if it’s just a stone picked up from the beach, draw a picture of the local sunset;
Even if it’s just a recording, hidden in a postcard, you can scan the code to hear the waves that day.
Questions asked in 2015 will still be asked in 2026.
Ten years later, we are still struggling with "how to grow bigger", but we have forgotten to ask "why we started."
Next time we travel, I hope what we bring home is not Yiwu products with place names printed on them.
It is a piece of light that only you understand and cannot be copied.
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