Shanghai's Blind-Box Craze Finds Its Tallest Stage

The most-photographed tower now has a toy floor

From 31 August through 1 November 2026, the POP LAND City Park Carnival Tour (泡泡玛特城市乐园嘉年华巡展) sets up inside the Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠塔), at 1 Century Avenue in Lujiazui. It runs daily, 10:00 to 21:00, on the tower's lower levels around the Blissful Restaurant (欢乐餐厅) floor — so you can meet the toys without climbing to the sphere.

The cast is Pop Mart's headline family: THE MONSTERS, with Labubu front and centre, plus the rest of the designer-toy roster that has turned blind boxes into a genuine global hobby. Tickets are sold through the Oriental Pearl Tower's own channels and the Baiyulan (白玉兰) livestream, in three flavours: a single ticket at ¥159 bundled with the Titan Space Pearl Star ship ride (钛空·明珠星舰游乐), a ¥368 double ticket with the Blissful Restaurant buffet, and a ¥99 single ticket that also admits the Shanghai History Exhibition Hall (上海城市历史发展陈列馆) on the tower's ground level.

• •31 Aug – 1 Nov 2026, daily 10:00–21:00
• •Inside the Oriental Pearl Tower, Lujiazui
• •Tickets ¥99–¥368 via the tower's official channels

Why a toy carnival is worth a traveller's time

Labubu is no longer a niche collectible. The elf-eared figure has become a quiet ambassador for a side of China that guidebooks rarely capture: a design-led, slightly mischievous leisure culture built on small, joyful objects. Seeing it staged at the Oriental Pearl Tower — the very symbol of Shanghai's 1990s leap into the future — is its own small commentary on how the city spends its weekends now.

For an international visitor, this is the rare attraction where you are watching a live cultural moment rather than a preserved one. The queues, the unboxing rituals, the crowds photographing a vinyl figure the size of a child — it is contemporary Shanghai in miniature, and it is more fun than it sounds.

• •Labubu as a window into modern Chinese leisure
• •A live cultural moment, not a museum piece
• •Easy to reach, easy to leave

How to actually go

The tower sits in Lujiazui, Pudong, a short walk from Lujiazui metro station on Line 2 — the same line that runs to both airports and to People's Square, so it slots neatly into almost any route across the city. Because the carnival lives on the lower floors, you can pair it with a trip up to an observation deck or a walk through the nearby riverside parks in the same visit.

Two practical notes. First, the carnival runs for more than two months, so there is no pressure to sprint on day one — a weekday morning is the calmer window. Second, the ¥99 ticket that includes the Shanghai History Exhibition Hall is the thriftier way in if you mainly want the tower experience rather than the buffet; the hall downstairs is a gentle, air-conditioned primer on how this corner of the river became a skyline.

• •Lujiazui Station, Line 2 — connects both airports
• •Runs to 1 Nov, so no need to rush
• •¥99 combo includes the tower's history hall

Make a half-day of the Pudong waterfront

The Oriental Pearl Tower is the obvious anchor of a Lujiazui wander, but the district rewards a slower loop: the riverside promenades, the cluster of towers, and the ferry across to the Bund when the light turns gold. The carnival is a good excuse to cross the river and see the modern city from both banks.

Our planning note

Shanghai has no shortage of serious museums and serious skylines. What the Pop Mart carnival captures is the city's lighter instinct — the one that queues happily for a tiny monster and calls it a good afternoon. Build it into a Lujiazui day, go on a quiet morning, and you will have seen something the brochures leave out.