I’ve never liked Barbie. I’ve never seen a true system engineer Barbie, or a true Barbie chef (don’t argue with me, that Barbie is a home cook!), or a Barbie restaurant administrator — I’ve never seen a Barbie that resembles any of the women of my family (except for my younger cousins)… let alone me. I have never been represented by a Barbie doll, so it’s all the same to me that the Barbie store in China had to close shop.

And no, I don’t think it’s entirely the fault of Barbie being “too strong” for Chinese girls. Sure, some Chinese girls (and boys) may grow up like princesses (or princes) in moderately rich households. But middle to middle-low-income families would still want their daughters to help out at the family’s business as well as getting good grades, or in the case of the very lucky ones just be given the best to reach excellency [1]. Putting your kids through school with extra-curricular activities, it’s a sacrifice… so over-paying for Barbie products would be pointless.

Women today, they can go out and do anything,” her grandmother said. “They can do big things.

And I know the example above may sound like a privilege Chinese girl, but her family’s back story isn’t that of a rich family, considering the girl’s grandmother made her mother work to put her two uncles through their studies. Sounds like a lot of hard work to me.