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Goodbye Barbie, hello Fisimi

By Yu Tianyu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-26 15:50

Range of 56 high-end ethnic Chinese dolls launched to celebrate national culture

A Fisimi doll which features a Luoba ethnic woman with her trademark long braids. The Luoba are an ethnic group living in Southeast Tibet. Provided to China Daily

BEIJING - It's not uncommon for Chinese girls to ask their parents why their favorite doll has a face different from theirs.

Barbie, Cindy, Cinderella and Snow White have long dominated the yangwawa, or foreign doll, market.

To counter this overseas' influence, Ju Xia, a senior executive of a Hong Kong-listed company, is undertaking the ambitious task of promoting home-grown fairy tales worldwide featuring Fisimi dolls.

Ju and her colleagues created the so-called Chinese Barbie dolls, naming them after the first letters of the words "fifty-six", which represents China's 56 ethnic groups, and "minzu" which means ethnic in Mandarin. The name Fisimi in Chinese signifies blessing and the sharing of good luck.

"The idea of creating the Fisimi dolls and Shenzhen Aphrodite Co Ltd in Guangdong province came about as the result of the booming Chinese economy and the increasingly international attention being paid toward the country and its culture in recent years," said Ju.

"Most of our team members either used to work overseas or frequently traveled abroad. When we saw the popularity of American Barbie dolls with their trademark blonde hair in China and witnessed the buzz surrounding Japan's expensive SD dolls with their with exaggeratedly large eyes and long eyelashes, we started thinking about what kind of doll should represent China. I believe that the study of the doll is like the study of mankind.

"I visited some doll museums in European countries. My favorite was one in Coburg in Germany. It has a marvelous collections of dolls of different ages from the 1840s, displayed like a documentary of the country's history."

Cultural experts were also consulted when creating the Fisimi dolls to ensure they were a paean to China's 5,000-year culture.

The Shenzhen Aphrodite Co Ltd was officially launched in the second half of 2007 and the first batch of Fisimi dolls was put on the market one year later.

The company was composed of people like Ju with plenty of experience in corporate management or investment banking.

However, despite their skills, they found the gestation period for Fisimi dolls was as difficult as any big deal Ju and her partners had tackled in their previous careers.

At the outset, Ju and her partners (she always emphasises it is a partnership to stress the role of teamwork in the operation) enlisted the help of students and academics from South China University of Technology in Guangzhou to help them collect information on the 56 ethnic groups and build up a database.

They conducted thorough investigations nationwide, talking to folklore experts to ensure every detail of the dolls was true to the facts and traditions as well as to avoid any of the taboos found in local religions and culture.

The task was not made because the development of the Internet and 3G technology has accelerated the disintegration of many traditional cultures.

"I visited a silversmith in Guizhou province and asked him to teach me his skills because I was amazed at his exquisite craftsmanship," Ju said.

"But his reaction was one of helplessness. He said he would rather go with me to work in cities. He told me I would have nothing to eat if I did his job."

After conducting research in Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet and other provinces with a strong ethnic presence it became obvious that possessing traditional craft skills did not guarantee a decent income.

"I think something should be done to prevent the disappearance of these traditional cultures and to help these minority craft workers to have a reasonable life," Ju said.

"It's not enough to help them sell their hand-made cloth products or other things with little added-value. That won't enable them to cast off the shackles of poverty and set out on a road to prosperity," Ju said. "From our perspective and business experience, creating a brand of products enjoying widespread popularity is the right way to help them."

At the same time, Ju and her partners are convinced the country also badly needs such a brand to revise the old image of Chinese products as being cheap and of such low quality that they can only be sold at simple stands in markets.

"Our dream is to make our Fisimi dolls become stars in the world's leading auction centers and art galleries," said Ju.

"Just as the Barbie doll is representative of American culture and values across the globe, so should Fisimi dolls act as ambassadors for Chinese culture. After all, so many people from all over the world have traveled to China in recent years and become more and more curious about Chinese culture.

"When the task is so important it is incumbent upon us to pursue accuracy more strictly."

When the team was designing the Fisimi doll representing the Mongolian ethnic group, they encountered problems because very few local workers were able to make the silver accessories, which are an essential part of the costume.

Experts from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region helped them eventually to track down an old craftsman. After telling him of their dreams and challenges, the artisan was touched and agreed to make mini-molds of the accessories for Fisimi dolls.

The Mongolian Fisimi doll measures about 40 centimeters in height and is dressed aristocratically, with the luxurious Ordos head ornament and riding boots.

Negotiation with artisans is tough since most of them insist on using old techniques and refuse to employ any innovations.

"But, if you are making a mini-mold of traditional items, you would find some details cannot be created for a tiny surface," Ju said. "You have to change."

Furthermore, in some regions, people are reluctant to reveal the secrets of their ancestral crafts to people who aren't family.

"You have to tell them why you need their crafts and how valuable they are and what you will do to conserve them time and time again," Ju said.

Another difficulty Ju's team encountered is the diversity within individual ethnic groups. For example, there are more than 2,000 kinds of robes that Tibetan people from different areas wear in their daily lives.

Ways of wearing the robes also differ according to occasion and status.

Ju and her partners decided to choose only the most typical details and to encourage people to explore more for themselves.

"All this attention to detail with the Fisimi dolls is to demonstrate culture and also the spirit of the country," Ju said.

Wearing confident smiles, the ethnically varied dolls present a cheerful and simple image.

Ju said the face of the Fisimis was very different from previous images of beautiful but shy and conservative Chinese girls such as the cartoon character of Hua Mulan or females featured in Zhang Yimou's films.

"Most of my foreign friends are happy with the lovely face with its big eyes and bright smile and it reflects a real picture of Chinese pretty girls nowadays," she added.

The Fisimi doll was developed and manufactured by a Chinese enterprise in Chinese plants based on Chinese culture, but Ju also co-opted an international group to work on the design.

Ju said it represented the inclusiveness of Chinese culture. "The eyes of the doll are made in Germany and the hair is made in Japan. We use the best available international resources to create a top Chinese brand," she said.

So far, Ju and her team have manufactured Fisimi dolls representing 30 ethnic groups. Each costs from 1,000 to 3,000 yuan. The other 26 types of doll are due to come out within the next three years.

Some people bought the dolls as gifts for their important clients and they have also been included in the gift list of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Ju.

In addition to ethnic groups, the company also created another category called the Fans Limited Edition in which dolls are dressed in different styles such as brides and flight attendants.

Compared with her previous job in which she used to manage five to six big projects, Ju says she now just has to manage two at the same time.

"Luckily, I have partners and many business friends who are willing to help and offer support in many ways and take Fisimis to various events," she said. "There will be a collecting craze for Fisimis."

China Daily