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Little robots that can chant well-known Chinese poems, dolls that have learned to make naughty noises like real babies and teddy bears that know how to dance gracefully to music.

Toys like these draw even the attention of adults, but toymakers in Chenghai city of south China's Guangdong Province can easily create different playthings and handicrafts out of virtually anything -- plastic, paper, cloth, wood, bamboo, metal, porcelain or earth.

The city, which falls under the jurisdiction of Shantou, one of China's five special economic zones, is one of the country's major toy and handicraft manufacturing export bases, home to more than 3,000 toymaking businesses with employees exceeding 100,000.

About 70 percent of the toys are exported to over 100 countries and regions around the globe, winning the city international fame as "master toymaker".

In 2002, the city's toymaking output hit 7.8 billion yuan (940 million US dollars), some 30 percent of its total industrial output.

In recent years, Chenghai has witnessed the return of flocks of Chinese descendants, who have returned to their birthplace after decades of living overseas. Some of them have brought huge amounts of private capital, which has been used to nurture the local toymaking industry.

Traditionally, the city was a cradle for Chinese folk art and culture, said a source with the local association of toymaking enterprises.

"Today, thanks to new technologies such as computer-aided design and production, the city rolls out over 100 new types of toys each month," he said.

Eyeing the international market, many small and medium-sized toymakers are seeking to produce name brands and apply for their own patents.

To date, the city has registered over 400 patented toys and brands including "Aodi", "Jinqi" and "Green Pine".

Aodi Toys Industrial Co. Ltd., a big name company in Chenghai, owns 119 patented technologies. It recently invested 20 million yuan (2.4 million US dollars) for the copyright of a Japanese-branded toy pet, which will soon be produced locally.