Pretty in pink with Barbie in Taipei

Christine Retschlag
May 11, 2013
The Australian

A pink-clad waitress at Taipei’s Barbie Cafe. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
IN Taipei, I bump into a childhood friend. She is, as ever, impossible to miss. That same Mona Lisa smile and perfectly straight blonde hair. I have bumped into Barbie. Miss Barbie Doll, that is.

Taipei seems a strange place to meet the pink minx of one’s childhood, but in reality it’s like coming home. The busty bombshell was first manufactured in Japan and introduced to consumers in the US in 1959. Barbie was created by Ruth Handler whose husband Elliot founded Mattel in California in 1945; she later became the toy company’s president. But in the 1960s Mattel also started Barbie manufacturing in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Taiwan has been in love with Barbie since she arrived in Taipei’s Taishan district between the airport and city centre. While the original factory no longer operates as a Barbie enterprise, the New Taipei Doll’s Community Co-operative Association, 10 minutes away in Cinsiou Road, operates a bit like a “front” for the blonde babe, so to speak. While the dolls are now made from local plastic, and Mattel may not agree with them being called Barbie, for the locals it’s all about keeping the memory alive.

Here sits a small museum of Barbie through the ages, including an early version still in its box. Ken, ever loyal, rests in the box beside her. There are Western Barbies with their fair hair and “long noses” and Eastern Barbies with dark locks, rounder faces and shorter noses. There are even Barbies representing Taiwan’s 14 indigenous tribes, a nun Barbie, a monk Barbie and plenty of career-women Barbies.

While Mattel is unable to verify the exact dates Barbie was manufactured in Taiwan, the co-operative’s general manager Ku Tsui-e claims it was from 1967 to 1987 and Barbie played a crucial part in the national economy, employing thousands of workers.

According to Ku, the factory was so important that Mattel gave these workers a special name – mei ning (calm beauty). Ku’s mother was one of the original mei ning who worked in the factory and used to bring home the “reject” dolls for her daughters. Now Barbies are manufactured at lower cost in Indonesia and China, with some accessories made in Mexico.

I leave the workshop, but my Barbie adventure isn’t over. Mattel has launched Barbie Cafe in the centre of Taipei. It looks like a hole-in-the-wall, pop-up restaurant, but once the pink garage doors are raised, it’s a Barbie bonanza. There is a Barbie bus photo booth, corset chairs, stiletto bar tables, handbag lounges and chandeliers.

If Barbie could speak, I’m almost certain she would sound like Barbie Cafe general manager Vivian Wu who, in a small, squeaky voice, tells me they have had about 6000 guests through the doors since the cafe’s January 31 opening. So devoted is this joint to Barbie, even the dark-haired, dark-eyed Taiwanese waiters and waitresses are known as Ken and Barbie. With opening hours from 11.30am through to 2am, the Barbie Cafe serves light lunches, afternoon tea, cocktails and dinner.

“Every girl had a Barbie doll when she was little … so the cafe is a nice place where dreams can still come true,” Wu says. “But sometimes I see mothers and little kids and know the grown-ups are enjoying the experience more.”