FenZ Interactive’s Non-Human Lands in Jingdezhen Ceramic Trend Toy Industry, IP Licensing Forges New Integration Model for Chinese Comics & Traditional Culture

On July 18, 2026, FenZ Interactive (studio of Non-Human) partnered with Taowanli in Jingdezhen to launch the Non-Human “Oriental Glaze Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Program”. The two sides signed a full-industry strategic agreement to fully deploy the Non-Human IP into Jingdezhen’s ceramic trend toy sector. This cross-border collaboration marks an in-depth integration of a national myth IP and millennium-old ceramic craftsmanship of Jingdezhen. It vividly demonstrates the dual empowering value of mature domestic comic IP licensing for both the ACG industry and traditional craft sectors, setting a replicable benchmark for the modern transformation of traditional Chinese culture.

I. Corporate Profile: FenZ Interactive and Its National Hit IP Non-Human

Founded in 2012, FenZ Interactive established the Non-Human Studio in 2015, standing as a benchmark cultural enterprise specializing in full-chain development of original Chinese comics. Its business scope covers comic creation, animation series, theatrical films, derivative merchandise, IP cross-border licensing and brand marketing.

The studio’s signature work Non-Human reinterprets ancient Chinese mythical figures such as Nine-Tailed Fox Jiu Yue, Ao Lie and Nezha through a modern urban lens, winning massive young audiences with its heartwarming and contrastive storytelling. The comic has accumulated over 30 billion total online reads, its animation series exceeds 4 billion views, and physical comic volumes have sold more than 1.5 million copies. It has claimed top honors including China Golden Dragon Animation Award and Golden Monkey Animation Award. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the studio released its first theatrical film Non-Human: Rally for Pals, realizing cross-media storytelling across comics, animation and cinema, and building a complete “Non-Human Universe” IP matrix with over 20 million followers nationwide.

Besides Non-Human, the studio incubates original IPs including 1031 West Town and Beast Fair, forming a diversified content portfolio. Supported by its sophisticated IP operation system, it has long carried out diversified licensing cooperation covering film, games, cultural merchandise, physical consumer goods and cultural tourism. The collaboration with Jingdezhen’s ceramic industry stands as its landmark project integrating intangible cultural heritage crafts.

II. Core Impacts of IP Licensing on Animation & Cultural Creative Industry

1. Diversify Monetization & Complete Industrial Ecosystem

Early Chinese comic industries relied heavily on streaming revenue with limited profit channels. The standardized IP licensing system breaks the single revenue model for top domestic comics. Through co-branded derivatives, physical trend toys, offline cultural tourism and manufacturing cooperation, IPs unlock long-term commercial value, extending their lifecycle and avoiding short-term traffic depletion to achieve sustainable long-term operation.

2. Standardize the Industry & Boost Competitiveness of Domestic IPs

Large-scale cross-border licensing drives the establishment of standardized mechanisms for copyright registration, licensing review, quality control and legal protection. The full-chain partnership between Taowanli and FenZ Interactive clarifies copyright specifications covering IP design, mold making, firing and sales, eliminating disorderly co-branding in domestic comic derivative market. Meanwhile, consistent market popularity of original domestic IPs enhances their bargaining power against overseas IPs, reshaping the derivative market landscape once dominated by foreign brands.

3. Break Dimensional Barriers & Expand IP Audience Reach

Chinese comic IPs boast stable young fan bases. Licensing cooperation transports ACG content to traditional industries, reaching mass general consumers. Non-Human ceramic toys attract both original comic fans and ceramic art enthusiasts, enabling two-way audience penetration, expanding the cultural influence of domestic comics and elevating Chinese comics from niche subculture to mainstream pop culture.

4. Drive Upstream & Downstream Collaboration & Spawn New Compound Industries

IP licensing unites animation designers, industrial modelers, handcraft artisans and retail practitioners, giving birth to a new compound track of “Chinese Comics + Trend Toys + Intangible Heritage”. Over 100,000 young creators and more than 3,400 ceramic heritage inheritors in Jingdezhen cooperate with animation designers and IP planners, forming new industrial clusters and creating more job opportunities integrating cultural creativity, manufacturing and tourism.

III. Profound Cultural Significance of Integrating Chinese Comic IP with Jingdezhen Ceramic Intangible Heritage

1. Inject Youth Vitality into Traditional Crafts & Solve Heritage Gaps

Traditional ceramic techniques such as carved flower, gold tracing, enamel color and glaze color were long limited to antique wares, with an aging consumer base. Combined with mainstream comic IPs like Non-Human, millennium-old craftsmanship is embedded into trendy blind boxes and ceramic figures favored by young people. Young consumers actively learn about firing and glaze techniques out of fondness for beloved characters, bringing ancient crafts out of museums into daily fashion consumption, fundamentally addressing the lack of young inheritors and weak cultural communication of heritage crafts.

2. Mutual Empowerment: Traditional Culture Enriches IPs, Trend IPs Revitalize Crafts

On one hand, Jingdezhen’s thousand-year ceramic culture and oriental aesthetics endow Non-Human IP with exclusive oriental collection value and cultural depth. Different from ordinary PVC/resin toys, ceramic products feature unique firing textures and unrepeatable glaze variations, upgrading the artistic and collectible premium of IP derivatives. On the other hand, modern narrative of Chinese comics provides brand-new expression carriers for ceramics, breaking the stereotype that ceramics only equal antique ornaments, and adapting clay-and-fire art to modern youth aesthetics and lifestyles.

3. Build Distinctive Chinese National Trend Cultural Symbols & Support Cultural Export

Certified by UNESCO as a “City of Crafts and Folk Art”, Jingdezhen ceramics represent highly recognizable Chinese cultural symbols. Rooted in Chinese mythology, Non-Human stands as a benchmark of domestic original animation. Cross-border ceramic toys combining mythic stories, traditional porcelain craft and modern trend culture form exclusive national trend products distinct from overseas toy IPs, creating localized trend cultural carriers and offering lightweight, youth-oriented channels for global cultural communication of Chinese civilization.

4. Set a Benchmark for Creative Transformation of Traditional Culture & Deliver Replicable Industrial Models

This cooperation moves beyond short-term single-product co-branding, realizing systematic full-chain development covering design, production, exhibition and cultural tourism, forming a complete closed loop of “IP Licensing + Intangible Heritage Industry + Cultural Tourism Consumption”. It proves that revitalizing traditional culture does not require blind catering to trends; instead, building a bridge between heritage craft and youth culture can achieve win-win results of commercial profit and cultural inheritance, offering a mature replicable model for the modernization of intangible heritage and traditional craft industries nationwide.

IV. Industry Outlook

Executives of Taowanli stated that they will continue cooperating with leading domestic comic enterprises including FenZ Interactive, optimize IP incubation and copyright protection systems, and promote standardized, branded and large-scale development of ceramic trend toys. FenZ Interactive will further explore cross-border cooperation with intangible heritage sectors based on the Non-Human IP.

When mythic animations meet millennium kiln fire, Chinese comic IP licensing evolves from a mere marketing tool into a cultural bridge connecting ancient and modern, trend and tradition. In the future, more domestic original IPs will join hands with intangible heritage to tap the contemporary value of outstanding Chinese traditional culture, drive dual upgrading of domestic comic industry and traditional craft industry, and build a brand-new national trend industrial ecosystem balancing economic benefits and cultural value.