Chongqing - Rows of young customers sat around long tables inside a newly opened craft store in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, carefully placing tiny colored plastic beads onto pegboards with tweezers.

Store owner Gan Xingyu displays finished fuse bead crafts, or pindou. (Photo/Mei Yao)

The store, Fingertip Magic, had just opened, but all seats in the more than 100-square-meter shop were already occupied. Moving between customers was 40-year-old owner Gan Xingyu, whose latest outlet marked his third branch opened within a year.

The rapid expansion reflects the growing popularity of fuse bead crafts, or pindou, a handicraft activity that has become a rising youth hobby in China. Participants arrange millimeter-sized plastic beads into images before fusing them into finished designs.

Gan began looking for a new business direction in 2025 after his longtime indoor children's playground business slowed. Since 2012, he had operated a large family entertainment venue in Chongqing's Shapingba District, but changing consumer habits made growth harder.

He noticed younger consumers were increasingly willing to pay for "emotional value". After researching social media trends, Gan turned to craft stores offering pottery, silver jewelry-making, and plaster painting. Compared with children's playgrounds, the investment was lower. He estimated that opening a craft store of just over 100 square meters would cost about 150,000 yuan (about 22,058 U.S. dollars) and would require a repayment period of six months to one year.

His first "Fingertip Magic" store opened in May 2025. At the time, fuse bead crafts remained a niche activity in China, with most revenue coming from pottery and plaster crafts. Gan said he once considered removing the fuse bead section.

A customer works on fuse bead crafts, or pindou, at the store. (Photo/Mei Yao)

The turning point came later that year, after the Chinese fantasy drama "Love Game in Eastern Fantasy" helped boost the craft's visibility. During livestream promotions, cast members displayed fuse bead merchandise based on characters from the show, drawing interest from fans.

"Fans began making their own fuse bead versions of the characters and sharing them online," Gan said. "After that, many more customers started coming to ask about pindou and try it themselves."

Finished fuse bead craft pieces on display inside the store. (Photo/Mei Yao)

The trend then expanded beyond fan communities. Craft bloggers posted tutorials, design templates, and videos of both successful and unsuccessful attempts, helping to fuse bead crafts and gain wider attention among young internet users.

Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, listed pindou in its "2025 Annual Interest Report" as one of the year's breakout niche hobbies. Related topics generated more than 6.6 billion views and over 21 million discussions, according to the report.

E-commerce data also pointed to rapid growth. Taobao named fuse bead crafts among its "Top 10 Products of 2025," saying searches for related products rose nearly 500% year over year. Some material kits recorded monthly sales exceeding 100,000 units. Market analysts cited in the report estimated China's fuse bead crafts market could approach 1 billion yuan in 2026.

For Gan, the impact was immediate. He said fuse bead customers are mainly people under 25, including high school students, university students, and young couples. Women make up more than 80% of customers, while average spending per visit is slightly above 30 yuan.

At peak periods, monthly revenue from fuse bead crafts alone exceeds 50,000 yuan, surpassing the original monthly revenue of the entire store, Gan said.

The trend has also drawn attention from mental health professionals. Luo Qinghua, deputy director of the Mental Health Center at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, described fuse bead crafts as a low-cost form of "flow experience," a psychological state in which people become deeply immersed in an activity.

Luo said the craft's repetitive process, clear steps, and immediate visual results help participants focus attention, reduce stress, and temporarily step away from work pressure. "The sense of achievement after completing a design also matches young people's demand for immediate feedback," he said.

Luo added that fuse bead crafts can serve as both a solitary activity and an offline social experience for friends and couples.