Editor's note: In 2025, "millet economy" will still be a phenomenon-level consumption hot word. From anime peripherals to trendy toys and figurines, this consumption phenomenon originating from the two-dimensional culture is quietly becoming a new carrier for young people’s emotional projection and identity. The special topic "Grain-eating Youth" will explore this economic phenomenon full of two-dimensional atmosphere from the perspective of an observer.
Image source: Pexels
At the end of last year, a small piece of iron sold for a sky-high price of 70,000 yuan on a second-hand platform, igniting public opinion about the "millet economy."
For many people, the “millet economy” is still an unfamiliar concept. The so-called "millet" originates from Japanese, and the original English word is "goods", which means goods. It refers to peripheral products derived from copyrighted works such as animation, games, comics, idols, and special photography. "Eating grain" is the synonym for consumption behavior among many enthusiasts.
Generation Z is the core driving force that pushes the “millet economy” to the center of the stage. Some of them are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars for the "Dream Love Valley"; some are suffering from anxiety about eating cereals due to excessive consumption; and there are even bolder "post-05s" who spend 300,000 yuan to open a cereal shop in order to realize the freedom of purchasing cereals.
Millet has become the spiritual necessity of Generation Z.
I spent 12,000 yuan to buy the "Dream Love Valley"
At the beginning of this year, 23-year-old Sanqi spent 12,000 yuan to successfully eat her "Dream Love Valley".
A few months ago, a fan announced in the group that he was quitting the grain industry, and at the same time released his collection of millet. Sanqi saw her "Dream Love Valley" at a glance, "Before this, no one sold this brand through channels such as Xianyu. I just want to win it!" In April, Sanqi still couldn't hide the excitement of unboxing it two months ago. "Seeing the real thing feels like meeting Mao Lilan, the karate queen, for the first time!"
She sent several photos to Times Finance. In one photo, there was an acrylic standing sign of Mao Lilan, with her long brown hair and blue skirt moving in the wind. In another photo, there was a Q-version figure of Mao Lilan in a fighting scene, and there was a badge with the image of Mao Lilan in a karate gi next to it.
Picture source: Picture provided by interviewee
These are just the tip of the iceberg of Sanqi’s box of millet. In this box of grain, there are no less than a hundred pieces of badges, cards, postcards, standing plaques and other products. "It took more than an hour to unpack the express delivery." This is Sanqi's craziest purchase since entering Guquan.
Just like the luxury brand Hermès, Guzi Trading has its own philosophy of “allocation”. The popularity of millet varies greatly among different IPs, characters, and styles. Popular millets are often in short supply, while unpopular millets may not be in demand. Many sellers bundle these products to avoid overstocking. Therefore, many people will choose to "share a platter" with other enthusiasts to purchase goods.
However, in the more than an hour of unpacking the express delivery, Sanqi's idea quickly changed from a platter to a plate (that is, buying them all) at a cost of 12,000 yuan.
In Guquan, "cooking power" is a measure of fans' love for a certain IP. From a more concrete expression, cooking power is closely linked to the amount of investment they make in IP consumption.
Sanqi told Times Finance that her cooking skills are not strong in Guquan. “I bought pirated posters when I was a child, and I only bought my first Love Live figure on bilibili in 2018.” In the true sense, she became a cereal eater after graduating from college. When I was studying, I had to dig around and save enough pocket money to buy a 100-yuan figure, but it soon disappeared.
Sanqi has a stable job within the system in her hometown. As a result, Sanqi's cooking skills gradually increased. She said, “Only then did I have the confidence to spend money for my hobbies.”
She found that there are more and more ways to eat grain nowadays. "Not only Hiya (peripheral products sold in Japan), but also stores such as Miniso and Trendy Planet have two-dimensional peripherals. When you see the works you liked in childhood, as long as the price is within the acceptable range, it is easy to buy them and place an order."
Although the frequency of new grains is not fixed, and Sanqi’s monthly cost of buying grains also fluctuates, on average she always spends 2,000 to 3,000 yuan per month. Even if you buy in a platter, the investment will increase in order to buy more rare millets with collectible value.
Sanqi said, "Ordinary rice dishes generally sell for 500 yuan to 1,000 yuan, and dishes with a small amount of rare millet are priced at 3,000 yuan and up. If there are very rare products in the plate, the price of the whole plate will exceed 8,000 yuan."
The cumbersome platter process also obscures the fans' sensitivity to bills. After eating grain for a while, Sanqi gave up on settling the accounts, "It's too troublesome! The platters require pushing carts, finding people, pricing, sorting the bundles, and packaging and shipping." Now, Sanqi only limits herself to a fixed deposit limit, and the remaining salary balance can be used to buy grain.
Picture source: Picture provided by interviewee
According to Sanqi's rough estimate, since October last year, she has spent nearly 30,000 yuan on the character IP of Mao Lilan. And her original intention of buying the grain was just to decorate a corner of her home that belonged to "Detective Conan".
She said, "Buying grain is a kind of emotion. I first wanted to buy it because I saw touching pictures on many grains, and I hoped that this picture could be frozen in real life and accompany me. The small corner I decorated is like my beautiful childhood memories being frozen. As soon as I saw it, I felt very relaxed."
I want to quit having sex in the live broadcast room, I want to eat well
When some people plan consumption rationally for feelings, more young people fall into irrational carnival. The rise of the live broadcast model is becoming a new "consumption whirlpool".
"Congratulations on the baby, you're so cool!" the anchor shouted over and over again in the live broadcast room while ringing the bell. Super-burning two-dimensional music, the sound of tearing packaging bags, interspersed with the harsh "ding-ding-ding" ringtones, stimulating every cereal eater in front of the screen. They keep "making money" in the hope that they can be the lucky one to hit the spot in the live broadcast room.
Douyin's "Pumping Valley" live broadcast room Image source: Screenshot from Times Finance
Pan Diandian, who is in his first year of college, really entered the pit circle when he started playing in the live broadcast room. "At that time, I had just finished re-watching "Harry Potter", and I suddenly went to the live broadcast room to see if there were any official grains. I found a live broadcast room and drew 20 yuan a time. I couldn't draw the self-promotion (my favorite IP). The frustration made me unable to stop. I drew four times in a row and finally won." Pan Diandian said.
The live broadcast of Gu Gu made Pan Diandian a little "superior". "Recently, when I see my colleagues (people who like the same IP or character as me) pushing themselves in the live broadcast room, I can't help but follow suit. The Douyin live broadcast room released the new song "Inhuman", and the draw was 15 yuan, and I drew nearly 200 yuan in one night." She said.
Pan Diandian’s roommate Cheng Xiao spent more on eating rice. Of the 1,500 yuan in living expenses, Pan Diandian spent 200 yuan in the live broadcast room in one night; Cheng Xiao spent at least 500 yuan on eating rice every month, and it often happened that he spent thousands of yuan just to own a rare "baji".
Eating grain is a "money-burning" hobby for ordinary students. However, the trend of following the trend has fermented, and the explosion of cooking power has formed a natural contradiction with the actual economic situation. Anxiety about eating cereals often bothered Pan Diandian at first. "I feel anxious after spending a lot of money but can't get enough to push myself. I feel anxious when I spend too much on millet every month. I feel even more anxious when I see my co-workers have millet that they can't afford."
In order to satisfy their hunger, they even began to live frugally. Pan Diandian said, "I haven't calculated the total price. I only know that I bought a lot. Sometimes we stock up some instant noodles in the dormitory to replace meals. Sometimes we spend too much and have no money to eat, so I also sell some millet."
On social platforms, many people said that behind following trends and passionate consumption, in addition to the pleasure of "buying, buying, buying" for their favorite IP, they also feel tired for a long time. “Anxiety about eating cereals” and “getting rid of anxiety about eating cereals” have also become hot topics in the cereal circle.
Recently, Pan Diandian and Cheng Xiao decided to make some changes. Pan Diandian said, "My parents' income is not very high, but they will support me to buy what I like. Every time I come home from school, they will say that I have lost weight again and that I haven't eaten well. So, I want to eat well now! I have stopped eating cereal during the live broadcast, and I control my consumption of cereal to no more than 200 yuan a month."
Small town youth invests 300,000 yuan and becomes millet shop owner
Some people stock up on instant noodles just to eat grains, while others open millet shops.
Lin Chuan, who was born in a county town in Hunan Province, has been interested in animation since he was a child. However, his financial capacity is limited, so eating rice is a very difficult task for Lin Chuan. "Before I graduated, I was very poor. I only had 5 yuan for breakfast every day. The cheapest bar (badge) in Guzi at that time cost me at least two days of breakfast money."
In the summer of 2022, Lin Chuan, who had just graduated from high school, went to Shenzhen from Hunan to work alone in order to have "spare money" to buy grain. "While waiting for the university to start, I worked as a real estate agent in Shenzhen Bay for two months. In layman's terms, I worked as a security guard."
At that time, holding on to the 6,000 yuan salary he had just received, Lin Chuan turned around and spent a third of it on gold stamps, slide cards and other peripheral products for "Violet Evergarden". Lin Chuan said that this was his first time eating grain in a real sense.
Picture source: Picture provided by interviewee
In September of the same year, by chance, Lin Chuan suddenly discovered that the price of the card he purchased for 400 yuan soared to 600 yuan on a second-hand trading platform. Lin Chuan made a decision, "I can earn 200 yuan in less than three months. I will sell one of the cards."
This transaction also allowed Lin Chuan to capture the fermentation of the valley circle. In the next year, the resale market suddenly exploded and prices soared.
The popularity of Guquan has skyrocketed, and Lin Chuan has tasted the sweetness of buying low and selling high several times. Lin Chuan, who dreams of "freedom to eat grains," began to add investment thinking to the matter of eating grains. He no longer eats grains entirely based on his personal preferences, but instead tries to bet on more popular IPs and grains with the prospect of price increases.
"You can't just rely on part-time work to eat rice." Lin Chuan said, "I started to understand from various aspects whether the rice of an animation is worth buying. Whether the IP is popular and whether the rice is scarce will affect its selling price in the second-hand market. The traffic of the dramas on the air is greater. But the price fluctuation will also be greater. If you win the bet, you will make money."
In September 2022, Lin Chuanhua ordered a commemorative coin of the character Violet in "Violet Evergarden" for 120 yuan. Now the price on the resale market has risen to 500 yuan.
According to data from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, from 2016 to 2023, the market size of China’s second-dimensional peripheral derivatives increased from 5.3 billion yuan to 102.3 billion yuan. Also in the second half of 2023, with the support of his parents, Lin Chuan invested about 150,000 yuan to open two millet stores in Xianyu and Pinduoduo, mainly selling handmade products.
Lin Chuan caught up with the good times, and the business of the online millet store was in full swing. According to the "2025 Xianyu Millet Trend Report", the transaction volume of platform millet in 2024 will surge by 105% year-on-year; in the first quarter of 2025, the transaction volume of domestic IP millet on Xianyu will be 1.2 times that of Japanese millet.
In the New Year of 2025, Linchuan’s millet store also received a huge order. "The sales are about 100,000 yuan, and I earn 12,000 yuan a month."
In just over a year, Lin Chuan's investment in the millet business expanded from the original 150,000 yuan to 350,000 yuan. According to him, the monthly sales of the two online stores are about 30,000 yuan, but due to large market price fluctuations, profits are not stable. The average net profit margin is about 10%.
Now, Lin Chuan is considering turning this side business into his main business. "I feel happy when I face these millets every day. The benefits they bring me also give me the confidence to resist various pressures. If I had not made money, I would have been kicked out by my family to work. It was originally a side business, but now it will become the main business. I hope this industry will get better and better."
However, he also admitted that the current millet business is not that easy. "In the past two years, there was a huge influx of capital, and many uninformed merchants opened stores blindly. In the end, clearance sales disrupted the market." There has been a situation in the market where the price of a well-known IP peripheral was inflated due to capital speculation, and then plummeted by 70% due to massive selling.
It's like the stock market, players who don't understand the rules can't escape being "harvested".
(At the request of the interviewee, all names appearing in the article are pseudonyms)