By Diana Arushanyan, Beijing

When strolling through the shopping streets of the Chinese capital, Beijing, it’s hard not to notice the queues forming outside the stylish minimalist boutiques of the Qingzhi (青稚) beauty and skincare brand. Armenian News-NEWS.am’s correspondent visited this brand’s Beijing store to find out how this local brand has become popular on TikTok, turning ordinary hand cream into one of the top gifts of the season.

Qingzhi’s main ideological move is personalization. The entire wall of its flagship boutique in Beijing is a perfume archive: 365 tubes of cream are arranged on the shelves by date.

Each date of birth corresponds to a unique color of the packaging—from pastel green to delicate lavender tones, its own fragrance—from fresh citrus and woody notes to rare floral accords, as well as the “Birthday Flower Language,” as the symbol and message of the flower associated with a specific day of the year are indicated on the tube and card.

Videos about the opening of Qingzhi creams get millions of views on TikTok. Users shoot videos where they choose creams according to the birthdays of their relatives, turning the purchase into a gift gesture. Under the hashtag #QingzhiBirthdayCream, bloggers show which scent and color fell on their birthday, comparing the symbols indicated on the packaging. And the selection process in the Beijing store is built as a whole ritual, which is perfectly visible in short videos.

The store is organized on the principle of a “gallery of emotions,” as at the entrance, the customers are offered to find their date of birth in a calendar-shelf.

The texture of the product is light and nourishing, but the main thing that people come here for is a sense of individuality. Qingzhi has managed to sell not just cosmetics, but a personal space, packaged in a neat bottle.