Why China’s youth can’t stop sharing this mental health-themed Moleskine

What happened Premium notebook brand Moleskine is capturing widespread attention with an unlikely collaborator: the Shanghai Mental Health Center. Their co-branded notebook, with limited availability, has sparked strong demand and extensive online discussion. Priced at $40 (280 RMB), the notebook’s defining feature is its cover, designed to resemble a “little healing bed.” The soft blue-and-white fabric evokes a hospital gown, while detachable elements like the pillow and blanket emphasize a sense of care and comfort. The product also comes with an embroidered doorplate patch marked “600,” referencing the center’s address at 600 Wanping South Road. Its opening page includes a thought map alongside the institution’s 90th-anniversary emblem. As the designers describe it, the notebook reflects the idea of “a soft bed for emotions,” offering a gentle, tangible expression of today’s collective psyche. Since its release in December, those who missed the sale have continued to ask about restocks, while those who secured a notebook have turned it into a playful social ritual — slipping phones and toys into the blanket pocket as if tucking them in for the night. In doing so, the notebook has become an interactive, shareable, and deeply relatable symbol, moving from a design concept to a social phenomenon. The Jing Take In recent years, the Shanghai Mental Health Center has emerged as a highly recognizable “folk IP” among young people. Once considered taboo, mental health institutions are now approached with humor and self-awareness, with younger generations joking about being a mental health patient to describe their own psychological states. This shift reflects a broader reckoning with mental health in China. The WHO estimates 54 million people in the country suffer from depression and 41 million from anxiety disorders, yet awareness and treatment rates remain extremely low. Among urban workers — the core demographic for premium lifestyle brands like Moleskine — workplace stress has reached critical levels, with some studies showing over two-thirds of workers in certain sectors reporting depression symptoms. The infamous '996' work culture (9am-9pm, six days a week) has made burnout a defining experience for young professionals, creating both demand and commercial opportunity for products that acknowledge this reality. As early as 2021, the Shanghai Mental Health Center scored its first creative breakthrough with its Mid-Autumn “Mental Cake,” which sold out almost instantly. Since then, the IP has steadily expanded. T-shirts co-created with the Xuhui Art Museum featured a single line, “No big deal,” to convey ease, while coffee co-branded with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra came in ten flavors, each nodding to the mental puzzles of urban life. While Moleskine is no stranger to collaborations — boasting projects with Blackpink, Issey Miyake, and NASA — teaming up with a psychiatric hospital was a bold move. Pulling it off required the brand to step out of its comfort zone and read the emotional currents of contemporary Chinese society. Projects like this have helped transform the institute from a physical address into a cultural symbol that connects mental care with everyday life. Turning emotion into cultural touchpoint What makes the collaboration remarkable is that it goes far beyond a simple logo swap. For the institution, it translates professional authority into a warmer, more approachable public presence, subtly inviting discussion around mental health. For Moleskine, it creates a direct emotional connection to users through an IP rooted in real social context and depth, generating value-based loyalty. For consumers, the purchase itself becomes a form of self-expression and social currency, signaling membership in a community that understands them. Ultimately, the collaboration reveals a clear rule of China’s emotional economy: success comes from transforming universal psychological experiences into tangible, well-designed, conversation-worthy solutions. Moleskine and 600 Wanping South Road did exactly that by delivering not just emotional value but an emotional solution. Through the “little healing bed,” abstract care becomes interactive and shareable, transforming a simple notebook into a cultural touchpoint. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

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Why China’s youth can’t stop sharing this mental health-themed Moleskine