What Happened: When visiting Shanghai’s Jade Buddha Temple (Yufo Temple), visitors can now take home a bottle of “blessed scent” from the temple’s own store to infuse their living spaces with positive energy.
This distinctive collection stems from a partnership between the temple and Boitown (冰希黎), a prominent domestic fragrance brand renowned for its luxurious and ethereal scents, achieved through the incorporation of a specially crafted sand in its perfumes making the liquid glittering. Founded by Hu Yuchu, Boitown tailored a fragrance line exclusively for the Buddhist temple, named Ruyin (如隐).
Much like the temple’s cherished bead bracelets, believed to bestow fortune upon the wearer, the Ruyin line comprises a selection of six fragrances, each supposedly endowed with auspicious wishes. These fragrances are designed to invoke blessings for various aspects of life, including marriage, wealth and health.
Boitown tailored a fragrance line exclusively for the Buddhist temple, named Ruyin (如隐). Image: Xiaohongshu
The Jing Take: Boitown’s collaboration exemplifies the rapid adaptation of domestic consumer brands to the evolving trends of local young generations, particularly within the burgeoning spiritual economy.
According to a 2022 report co-published by JD.com, Tencent Music, and podcast platform Himalaya, over 52 percent of Gen Z consumers expanded their consumption relating to spirituality last year.
Visits to renowned Buddhist temples across China by millennials and Gen Z surged 310 percent at the start of 2023 compared to the same period last year, as reported by the Chinese travel platform Ctrip.
Beyond the traditional rituals of incense burning and praying, the younger demographic gravitates towards temple shops offering blessed objects. Among these, bead bracelets have become a viral sensation, available in various precious stones and combinations, each symbolizing good fortune in different spheres of life such as financial wellbeing, careers, and education.
Beyond the traditional incense burning and praying rituals, the younger demographic gravitates towards temple shops offering blessed objects. Image: Xiaohongshu screenshot
The pandemic significantly increased the time people spend at home, leading to a substantial uptick in sales of products offering emotional soothing effects, such as perfumes and aromatherapy items.
The emotional resonance provided by perfume shares similarities with the ambiance of temples. Against the backdrop of the numerous changes engendered by the pandemic and the anxiety caused by today’s ultra-fast-paced society, young consumers are finding comfort in purchasing goods and services relating to the spiritual realm.
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.
