How tin toys geared up manufacturing success

Hong Kong to Shanghai

As an international business hub, Hong Kong in the 1960s and 70s had a wide selection of toys from around the globe on sale. Japanese tinplate robots, American action figures, mechanical toys made on the Chinese mainland, and locally manufactured plastic figures shared the same shelves in the city's toy stores.

"All of these toys made up the most wonderful fragments of my childhood memories," Chan said.

One toy in particular, remains unforgettable — a Japanese-made wind-up tin Ultraman Chan's parents gifted him after he did well in a school exam.

"Its red and silver figure, with a head that could turn, made me very happy. Every time I wound it up, it felt like I was fighting alongside Ultraman to protect peace in the galaxy. That toy was priceless to me," he said.

Inspired by the romanticized version of Shanghai he saw in the classic Hong Kong TV drama The Bund, Chan went to the city in 1991.Between 1998 and 2008, he split his time between Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, researching Chinese toy history and exploring manufacturing partnerships.

In 2005, he launched the Museum of Shanghai Toys in Singapore, displaying his collection of over 2,000 toys made in Shanghai from 1910 to 1970.

But the opportunity he had been waiting for arrived in 2008, when a tin toy factory in Shanghai was seeking a collaborator. Chan decided to relocate to Shanghai and devote himself to reviving the city's fading tin toy industry. Later, he took over a tin toy factory and founded the Saint John company, designing and manufacturing items himself.

Shanghai has long been a toy manufacturing powerhouse, according to Chan.

By the 1950s, Shanghai's tin toy industry was flourishing — technically innovative, nationally influential, and export-driven. Companies developed new metal toys that went beyond the wind-up models of earlier decades, injecting new vitality into a rapidly evolving market.

In 1965, Shanghai's tin toys were showcased internationally at China's first toy exhibition in Hong Kong. The products delighted children across the globe with their clever mechanisms and imaginative forms. Even by the early 1980s, tin toys remained a dominant force in Shanghai's toy market.

"From an artistic perspective, vintage tin toys — both the toys themselves and their packaging — often featured hand-painted art," Chan said. "The vibrant colors, smooth lines, and clever construction gave these toys not only charm, but real artistic value."