Shanghai Fosun Arts Center

The Shanghai Fosun Arts Center is a non-profit arts institution founded by Fosun Group and the Fosun Foundation in 2016, located at 600 Zhongshan East 2nd Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai. The building was co-designed by Foster + Partners and Heatherwick Studio, its three floors of golden rotating fringe curtains forming a distinctive facade that has earned it the nickname "the dancing house."

The Fosun Arts Center is currently hosting "A Star That Never Changes—MOLLY's 20th Anniversary Special Exhibition," the Shanghai leg of a global art touring show organized to mark the 20th anniversary of MOLLY, Pop MART's iconic IP character. Although I'm not a designer toy collector myself, I was genuinely curious about how an artistic character could grow into such a celebrated collectible IP—and at one point account for as much as 80% of POP MART's total revenue.

The exhibition answers this question right from the opening. In the prologue and the first section, "My Name is MOLLY," visitors learn about the origins of MOLLY and how designer Kenny Wong shaped her into a universally recognized IP. It turns out that this little girl with teal-green eyes and golden curly hair was inspired by a real person—Kenny spotted a young girl drawing quietly at a charity fundraiser and was struck by her look of total concentration. Taking her as his muse, he created the image of a painting-loving little girl with a perpetually proud, pouty expression.

From that moment on, this curious and dreamy little girl seemed to live right alongside us, growing with the world through every era. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, MOLLY launched a sports series. In 2009, during the H1N1 pandemic, they released the Boxing and Bee series to inspire people to confront and combat illness. When 2012's "end of the world" predictions were at their most fevered, MOLLY calmly released anniversary sculptures and new figure collections as usual. In 2015, following the successful launch of China's Long March rocket carrying 20 satellites on a single flight, the first-generation SPACE MOLLY 2015—Pumpkin and Radish editions—made their debut. In 2016, Kenny officially partnered with POP MART, and MOLLY's merchandise exploded across every category—blind boxes, articulated figures, sculptures, jewelry, and more—weaving herself into every corner of daily life. Through it all, her classic blue eyes and signature pouty lips have never changed, nor have the stories she brings: of imagination, childlike innocence, passion, courage, and guardianship.

The exhibition displays a vast collection of MOLLY figurines, Kenny's original sketches, and paintings. A dedicated section showcases reinterpretations of MOLLY by other artists across a richly varied range of mediums—paper-cutting, Sichuan embroidery, Jingdezhen porcelain, candle sculpture, shadow puppetry, theatrical makeup and costuming, cotton-print dyeing, and reinterpretations by international painters. It is genuinely worth experiencing in person.

At its core, the heart of artistic design still comes down to whether a work can resonate with its audience. A successful designer toy IP may not demand deep artistic pedigree, but its most essential qualities, I believe, are personality and empathy. Only a character with a truly distinct identity is easily remembered and passed down; only one that shares the same world as its audience—common in values, unified in experience, and intertwined in feeling—can genuinely move people.

General admission is 78 RMB per person. The exhibition spans two floors (2F and 3F) across six sections and takes approximately 40 minutes to one hour to complete. Exhibition,"