Barbie's top ten
- Source: Global Times
- [13:25 July 13 2010]
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Wang Junfeng. Photo: Courtesy of Mattel Barbie China
By Mao Jiayu
Tribute was paid to China's "Top Ten Women with Dreams" recently at a ceremony in the Barbie flagship store on Huaihai Road.
The women were selected and judged from 10 different walks of life as representing "dream ambassadors" and "career models" for young girls. A number were famous public figures like SMG Television host Chen Chen, supermodel Song Shanshan, Taiwanese singer Coco Lee, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra chief Piao Ying and the up-and-coming tennis player Zheng Jie. The others include women, who, while not as well known, have proved as equally inspirational to young people. They include public-interest lawyer Guo Jianmei, police woman Wu Xiaoling and pet doctor Wang Xiaoping.
The contenders were selected by asking girls to choose their dream jobs, and then asking representatives from the 10 most popular careers to pick who they felt represented ideal role models within those industries. The eventual winner was the physically disabled athlete Jin Jing.
"Some of them may not be very familiar to children, or even some adults, but I think a Barbie dream for girls isn't just about being beautiful, but is also about being a useful member of society," said Wang Junfeng, commercial director of Mattel Barbie China who organized and sponsored the event.
As examples Wang points out how police officer Wu Xiaoling has donated her hematopoietic stem cells to research while lawyer Guo Jianmei never accepts money for the women's rights cases she works on, thereby giving underprivileged women a voice they would otherwise be denied.
"You also have the case of Wang Xiaoping who spent hundreds of thousands of yuan from her private savings in order to build a shelter for homeless cats and dogs," said Wang. "And Jin Jing is famous, of course, for her strength and incredible will power in taking third place in the women's wheelchair fencing at the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games in 2002."
Barbie, 51, has appeared in numerous guises herself as a modern working woman, a doctor, astronaut, police woman and business entrepreneur. She has also acted as a "muse" for some of the world's top designers.
"We just came here to look for a Barbie doll for my daughter and came across the awards," said 30-year-old mother Wang Danping at the ceremony. "It's nice to see they are doing something worthwhile. My daughter only knows Barbie as a beautiful doll, but she was very impressed when I told her about the pet doctor spending so much money on an animal shelter."
