Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster “Barbie” has many buzzing about untraditional, off-beat versions of the dolls, from Video Girl Barbie to Growing Up Skipper, Barbie’s little sister whose chest inflates when you lift her arm.
Enter the scene “Going Home Barbie,” a white doll holding a small Asian baby made to help Chinese adoptees transition to their new, presumably Western, families. It’s real and it has some adoptees digging through their attics and connecting with others with similar stories.
In a viral TikTok posted this week, Kaitlyn Fung, a college student from central New Jersey and a Chinese adoptee, showcased her “Going Home Barbie,” which she said she received at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China, where she stayed as a baby with her adoptive parents during the adoption process in November 2003.
“I was scrolling through my For You page, and I saw all the people using Billie Eilish’s song, ‘What Was I Made For?’ I felt like that song really resonated with me both within the movie and outside of it,” she said in the video, which has garnered 5 million views. “And then, when my mom initially showed me the doll, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to share it with somebody.’”
The doll’s box reads, “This souvenir is presented by Mattel (HK) Ltd. to adopting parents of Chinese orphan children staying at the White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou, China.” The doll was discontinued in 2015 during the hotel’s renovations and was never reintroduced, a manager from the White Swan Hotel confirmed to NBC News.
The doll, which has at least nine editions, each sporting different outfits, was given exclusively to adopting families that stayed at the White Swan. Its limited supply has sown demand for the vintage collectible, and copies of the doll are being auctioned for as much as $658.18 on eBay.
Fung, 20, said that her experience was slightly different from other adoptees because her parents aren’t white — her father is Chinese, and her…
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