Ba1bi3 wa2wa5 is going to China!

The world famous Barbie Doll (芭比娃娃 • ba1bi3 wa2wa5) will journey through China for the first time in her life. From January 2008 to January 2009 she will be on a traveling exhibition (巡展 • xun2zhan3) through several of China's major cities (大城市 • da4cheng2shi4): 重庆 • Chong2qing4, 青岛 • Qing1dao3, 杭州 • Hang2zhou1, 昆明• Kun1ming2, 上海 • Shang4hai3 and 北京 • Bei3jing1.

Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, an american (美国人 • mei3guo2ren2) businesswoman and has been distributed worldwide by Mattel, Inc. (美泰公司 • mei3 tai4 gong1si1) since 1959. She named the doll after her daughter (女儿• nv3er2) Barbara (芭芭拉 • ba1ba1la1).

Barbie dolls have been marketed portraying at least 45 (si4shi2 wu3) different nationalities (个不同的 国籍 • ge5 bu4tong2 de5 guo2ji2) and no less that same number of job occupations (职业 • zhi2ye4). As years go by we have seen Barbie as an astronaut (宇航员 • yu3hang2yuan2), a pilot (飞行员 • fei1xing2yuan2), a flight stewardess (空姐 • kong1jie3), a computer designer (电脑设计师 • dian4nao3 she4ji4shi1), a doctor (医生 • yi1sheng1), a teacher (教师 • jiao4shi1), a warrior (战士 • zhan4shi4), an athlete (运动员 • yun4dong4yuan2) and, of course, as a movie (影星 • ying3xing1) and pop star (歌星 • ge1xing1).

She has been a very progressive girl always changing with the times; we have seen not only changes in her hairstyle (发型 • fa1xing2) and clothing attire (服装 服饰 • fu2zhuang1 fu2shi4) but also in her race (种族 • zhong3zu2), skin color (肤色 • fu1se4) and language (语言 • yu3yan2).

That's probably why she has so many fans around the globe! and the number keeps growing...

You can read the Chinese News article here
Barbie is a trademark of Mattel, Inc. You can download the image as a Screensaver here

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