Como é o maior depósito de brinquedos — Shantou Chenghai Toys Place?
There’s a saying you’ll hear the moment you enter China’s toy trade: “Most of the world’s toys come from China, most of China’s toys come from Guangdong, and most of Guangdong’s toys come from Shantou Chenghai.” After 13+ years running buying trips in this district, we can tell you it holds up. The numbers back it too — Chenghai alone ships a huge share of the world’s plastic and electronic toys.
This guide is the practical version. It’s written for overseas importers, Amazon sellers, and distributors who don’t need the tourism brochure — you need to know where Chenghai is, what you can actually buy, why the cluster got so dominant, how to tell a real factory from a trader, and the exact 6-step import flow. No fluff. Just what works on the ground.
#1 Where is Shantou City Chenghai District? to find toys from china
Chenghai is a district of the city of Shantou, in Guangdong Province, China. The toy and gift industry here is one of the three major production bases of its kind in the country. Chenghai is the only district awarded the title “China Toys and Gifts City” by the China Light Industry Union, and it also carries the designation “Chenghai Industrial Base of Creative Design and Manufacture of Intelligent Toys” from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
It’s home to more than 4,000 local toy, gift, and anime manufacturers, franchisers, and service providers. Chenghai has built a complete toy industrial chain — design and development, mold making, production and processing, printing and packaging, exhibition and trade promotion, and logistics distribution all sit within roughly a 30-minute drive.
Industry insiders sum up its edge in eight points: industrial clusters, trade facilitation, a vast diversity of types, attractive designs, quality assurance, a constellation of brands, appropriate prices, and high added value.
#2 What kind of toys you can find in Shantou Chenghai?
Almost every kind of plastic-material toy is made in the Shantou toys area: car toys, educational toys, craft & cartoon toys, RC toys, baby toys, STEM toys, girl toys, kitchen-play toys, sports toys, dinosaur toys — across age ranges from toys for 1-year-olds to toys for 3-years-and-up.
Different manufacturers supply different quality tiers and designs. By comparing several of them, you can lock in the best price with the nicest packaging before you place the order. Most showrooms also offer a reasonable MOQ so a new buyer can run a low-risk test order.
Quick category checklist for Chenghai:
- RC & remote-control toys (cars, drones, robots)
- Die-cast & pull-back cars
- Dinosaur & animal figures
- STEM / educational electronic kits
- Baby & preschool (battery-operated)
- Dolls & vinyl character toys
- Role-play / kitchen & girl toys
- Sports & outdoor toys
#3 When Shantou Chenghai become the toys Capital City in China?
That same saying — “Most of the world’s toys come from China… most of Guangdong’s toys come from Shantou Chenghai” — didn’t appear overnight. The cluster built itself over four decades:
- Beginning in 1979, the Chenghai toy industry rose as urban and rural households opened small workshops and used manual injection-molding machines to make simple toys.
- Since 1985, products gradually shifted from simple manual toys to electronic toys.
- In 1995, the output value of Chenghai’s toy and gift industry exceeded 1 billion RMB (around 142 million USD).
- Since 1996, the industry developed rapidly. Leading enterprises such as Guangdong Jinwei Toys & Crafts (Group) Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Audi Toys Industry Co., Ltd scaled up design, mold development, and management. Brands like “Audi Double Diamond,” “Shenwei,” “Shifeng,” and “Qunxing” became well known. More than 50,000 varieties are produced every year, with sound/light/electric RC toys making up over 20% of the total.
- In 2000, there were 2,140 toy manufacturing factories in Chenghai with 73,500 employees and total industrial output of 742 million USD, accounting for 29% of the city’s total industrial output. Chenghai had become a world-renowned production and export base for toys and gifts.
#4 How to find Shantou Chenghai Toys factory?
A question we hear constantly: when you search “Shantou toys” on Alibaba.com, are those results real Shantou toy factories? In our experience, about 90% of them are trader companies. It’s easy to check: if a “factory” lists dinosaurs, cars, baby toys, and electronic toys all at once on their site, they’re a trader — no single factory produces that many unrelated categories.
The most reliable way to meet real manufacturers is to visit the Loja de brinquedos Shantou (also called the Shantou Chenghai toys exhibition hall). These halls display samples from hundreds of local manufacturers, so you can check the sample, price, and every detail in one place.
But here’s the catch: Chenghai’s showrooms serve local traders and sourcing agents — they generally won’t let an overseas buyer walk in alone. If you’re new to Chenghai, you’ll need a local buying agent to get you in and guide the visit.
- Their catalog mixes dinosaurs, cars, baby, RC, and plush all at once → trader (no one factory makes all of those).
- They can’t show you the injection workshop or mold room → trader / agent.
- They quote the same MOQ across wildly different items → reseller.
- They refuse a live video factory tour → walk away.
#5 How to import Shantou Chenghai Toys?
The actual import is just 6 steps:
- #1 Select the toys you want to buy.
- #2 Place the order and collect the goods.
- #3 Arrange container loading and do the custom declaration in China.
- #4 Find a shipping-company agent; they take over the container after customs declaration.
- #5 The shipping agent arranges transport from the China seaport to your seaport.
- #6 When the container arrives, the shipping agent handles customs clearance and delivers to your warehouse.
(For steps #2–#3 you can simply use a China sourcing agent — TonySourcing provides this. For steps #4–#5, search Google for “local forwarder” or “shipping import agent.”)
BEFORE YOU SHIP — COMPLIANCE & LOGISTICS
- Compliance: for the US/EU, confirm EN71 (EU) and CPC + ASTM F963 (US) test reports before shipping. Amazon requires a valid CPC — see our US Amazon Toy CPC guide.
- Incoterms: most Chenghai quotes are EXW or FOB Shantou/Shenzhen. Get 2–3 freight quotes for steps #4–#5.
- Container math: a 20ft box holds roughly 28–33 CBM of toys. Mix several items to hit a full load and cut per-unit freight.
Pre-shipment checklist:
- [ ] MOQ & lead time confirmed in writing
- [ ] Pre-shipment QC / inspection passed
- [ ] CPC (US) / EN71 (EU) docs in hand
- [ ] Freight forwarder & customs broker lined up
- [ ] Incoterms (EXW / FOB / CIF) agreed
If you have any question about Shantou toys, please leave a message below — or talk directly with our Shantou team.
I am interested in starting a toy bussiness in Zambia