Stunning photos show what it's like inside a Chinese factory that makes American toys

China makes much of what the world buys. According to The Economist, the country was producing 25% of the globe's manufacturing output by value in 2015.

In 2013, when Cheng Cheng - currently an intern on Business Insider's graphics team - was a photography student in London, she had the idea to produce a body of work that would visualize mass production. Hailing from the Jiangsu province of China, she decided that the place she came from would be the best place to do it.

Inside a toy factory in the Jiangsu province, she saw workers handcrafting stuffed-animal versions of characters whose faces they do not recognize.

"It's cliche [to] talk about 'made in China,' but because it's my hometown I have an emotional connection with that," she told Business Insider.

Here's what she saw of the workers' day-to-day routines.