How Shanghai's White Rabbit candy became a global brand
When ice cream maker Adrienne Borlongan first experimented with a White Rabbit flavour, she thought it tasted like "cheap vanilla".To get more news about chinese candy, you can visit shine news official website.
A few weeks after adding it to the rotating menu at her Los Angeles shop, Wanderlust Creamery, customers were about as bored with it as she was.
But when Borlongan posted a photo of an ice cream cone wrapped in White Rabbit-branded paper, word quickly spread on social media. The candy, first produced in Shanghai in the 1940s, is known for its iconic red, white and blue packaging and is loved by children across China. And as Chinese people began to emigrate around the world, their love for the white, creamy confection went with them.
Soon after Borlongan posted the photo, people from all over California were driving to Wanderlust. And that's when she realised she had a phenomenon on her hands.
Since then, White Rabbit has been a mainstay of Wanderlust's ice cream range and regularly sells out of the web shop.
But the story of a best-selling ice cream is about much more than taste - it's about the Chinese diaspora, the power of nostalgia and adorable, eye-catching branding.
Made in China
White Rabbit's origins go back to a now-defunct company called the ABC Company, founded in Shanghai in 1943. It was later sold to the state-owned Guan Sheng Yuan Food Group, which still owns it today.
Originally, the sweets had a picture of Mickey Mouse on their wrappers - perfect for appealing to children. But as Chinese national pride grew and it became less fashionable to use Western images, the company rebranded and put a cartoon rabbit on the box instead.
The mix of colourful, easy-to-find packaging and sweet, milky taste proved a winner. Children from Beijing to Hong Kong grew up with the candy, and it also became a national symbol of the country - most famously, US President Richard Nixon was given some when he made his historic visit to China in 1972.
White Rabbit succeeded as a symbol of China that had nothing to do with politics or controversy - a form of culinary diplomacy.
As for the taste? The creamy texture comes from real milk, and there's an edible piece of rice paper between the candy and the wrapper to prevent it from melting.
Over the years, White Rabbit has tried other flavours, including red bean and peanut. But it's the original version that has the most nostalgia.
CNN contacted Guan Sheng Yuan, but the company declined to comment on its product.
However, the popularity of the candy is evident in the market's enthusiastic response to all things White Rabbit.
The White Rabbit brand has gained a loyal following among the newer generation, who have gone beyond its various flavoured sweets.
When it partnered with a local beauty brand to sell White Rabbit-inspired lip balms online in 2018, the first batch of 920 products sold out in half a minute. A further 10,000 sets of lip balms sold out in three hours when sales opened the next day.