Скачать или смотреть HONG KONG: BARBIE DOLL EXHIBITION

(25 Mar 1999) Cant/Eng/Nat

An exhibition is being held in Hong Kong to honour the 40th birthday of the world's most famous doll.

Life-sized Barbie dolls are included in the display.

A Barbie workshop will also take place to mark this milestone birthday.

The retrospective Barbie display in a Hong Kong shopping mall is part of a worldwide celebration of her 40th anniversary.

In the collection of human-sized dolls is the original 1959 Barbie doll, created by the American Mrs Ruth Handler.

She based the doll, considerably less blonde and less curvy than today's models, on her daughter.

Barbie didn't take long to attain legendary status.

That fame spread to Asia twenty years ago.

Now representatives from Mattel, Barbie's parent company, believe the one-child policy in China will only serve to increase Barbie's marketability in the region.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"For China, I think because most of the parents love their kid a lot so they spend a lot of money especially for items like the luxurious items for the kids there."
SUPER CAPTION: Yvonne Ngau, Senior Brand Manager, Mattel East Asia Limited

A special Barbie was created to mark Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997.

The Chinese Empress dolls became a collectors' items, with only five thousand released to shops.

Now, only two years later, the dolls fetch around 250 U-S dollars each.

Mattel Limited is also planning to hold a Barbie workshop in Hong Kong in two week's time for collectors.

Some people wonder why Barbie, a blonde, blue-eyed, all-American-looking doll has such universal appeal.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Even most of the time Barbie will have blonde hair but I think the play pattern of Barbie is very universal. So when kids play with Barbie she won't see her as a foreigner, she will see her just as a companion of herself."
SUPER CAPTION: Yvonne Ngau, Senior Brand Manager, Mattel East Asia Limited

In fact Barbie dolls are available dressed in the national costume of over 40 countries worldwide, although her features remain European.

But most still prefer the blonde version.

Certainly here Barbie's fans can't imagine a truly oriental version.

SOUNDBITE: (Cantonese)
Ist schoolgirl: "It will make her look different."
2nd schoolgirl: "It will look strange."
3rd schoolgirl: "Yeah."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pops, Schoolgirl

In her 40-year lifespan, Barbie has had 75 careers, ranging from being a teenage fashion model to a doctor, teacher, astronaut to a presidential candidate.

Her and boyfriend Ken have also played at being agents Mulder and Scully from the cult television series the X-files.

Amazingly she hasn't aged a day.

And nor does her popularity seem to wane.

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