Sieren's China

A new trend in China's cities is helping creative business people get rich quick: Young people have started adorning their heads with plastic plants shaped like a clover, sprouts, blades of grass, mushrooms and flowers. These "hair-clips" sometimes stick out 10 centimeters - they are not for keeping hair in place. They were first spotted a month ago in the center of the south Chinese city of Chengdu and the fashion spread like wildfire. Days later, the plastic plants were seen in the capital.

Now, the plastic jewelry is on sale on every corner in Beijing's old city, as well as in the 798 Art Zone. The clips go for five yuan (70 Euro cents) a pair and over 20 million have been sold in just a few weeks. And the fad has not only taken China by storm - the Japanese are copying the trend, and even the US media have taken an interest in the clips. Thanks to social media, the fashion went from one city to the next and then from continent to the next.

Unknown how the fashion began

It was only possible because there were resourceful entrepreneurs waiting who caught onto the trend very fast and started producing and delivering in record time. They were in Yiwu, a city that lies 300 kilometers from Shanghai and is known globally as a hub for small consumer goods and home to over 13,000 foreign business people, mostly from other parts of Asia. Every year, goods worth some $20 billion are exported from Yiwu to the rest of the world.

However, even experienced traders in Yiwu are hard put to predict when, where and why a new fashion will emerge. Moreover, their task is not made easier by the fact that nobody knows why this phenomenon occurred and what it really means. Various theories have been posted on China's social networks - one is that poor people used to put hair in their grass to offer themselves as slaves, another is that Buddhists use blades of grass to adorn their hair when they have mastered a task successfully.

Making a profit before the trend is over

However, this new fashion does not have a particular significance. Traders who are asked why people are buying the plastic jewelry answer that it's funny and looks nice. Especially to young women who want to look cute. The plastic plants are also a good way of drawing attention - not unimportant in cities that boast so many people. On top of that, the clips are neither expensive nor complicated tattoos that could be "out" next week. At the same time, they are neither expensive gadgets nor complicated tattoos that could be "out" next week. That's the issue for traders in Yiwu who want to clear their warehouses before 1 October when the national holiday celebrations begin.

The trend is already dying down. In social networks, people commenting that the fashion is embarrassing are the loudest now. Nonetheless, for the entrepreneurs the plastic jewelry has been worth it. The production of over a million plastic flowers cost perhaps 0.10 yuan, and profit margins of about 50 percent were attained. Perhaps foreign environment activists will start wearing the latest "Made in China" trend on their heads too. And then the factories will be busy again even if there is less demand at home. Here's a tip: Nobody's been seen wearing a plastic plant in their hair in Germany yet.

DW's Frank Sieren has lived in Beijing for 20 years.