A la in a W o n g

198 1 an d gre w up In N ow Joroo y, ~ 6 an Engll,k

Ala ina Wo ng was bo rn In
Un ive rsi ty of Pe nn syl van la, ahe se rve d as ma na g,n g od ltor of
ma jor at the
ga zf ne for As ian Am eri ca n stu de nta. Wong gro dua tod In 2002
Mosaic, a mo
for sev era l ye ars In the ma rke tin g de partm ent ot the publlthJng
an d wo rke d
& Sc hu ster. Sh e is cu rre ntl y a ma rketin g ma no go r In tho chlf.
co mp an y Simon
dren's division at Penguin Books.

China Doll
(Student Essay)
for the
ng wr ote "C hin a Do ll" wh en she wa s a co lle ge jun ior o s a submission
Wo
an tho log y YE LL- Oh Gir ls/ Em erg ing Vo ices Explore Culture, Ide ntity, and
teen
As ian Am eri can (20 01 ). The ess ay, W on g expla ins, "p rovides a
Growing Up
int o the min d of a ch ild, de tai lin g the wa ys girls ma y com e to
whimsical glimpse
fea tures, wh ich so oft en co ntr as t wit h the media-de~ned
terms with their Asian
ide al of beauty."

inc ess Ba rbi e, wi th lon g blo nd ha ir th at yo u co ul d br ush and t

I wa nte d Pr
iny go wn . Sh e ev en ca me wi th a sh immery wh ite tJara,
a be au tif ul sh
, in my eig ht- ye ar- old mi nd , cro wn ed he r at the to p of h er Barbie
wh ich
pa ren ts loo ke d at me ex pe cta ntl y as I tor e th ro ug h the wrap-
wo rld . My
lik e ex cit em en t. As th e pil e of sh red de d paper around
pi ng pa pe r in ch ild
n.
me gre w larger, so did my an ti cf pa tio

24 2
 Wong I Chin() Doll 243

nut 1n~H.lt1tl of o hco11l111t1l p1 lnceiss Wll'h nhJ r ,, , _

1

on unl'nml\h\l' bluck•hOh't'l\ "frlt•nll''or J\ ~: 1

lt~ Sl'les, Whnt l found 2
wn~ -L•\t't ,,vet' o plnk bl\thln~ sull , n, c, who wore u l'lornl
~,·«P~I'
~ nisoppol11tml;lnt po~sed over my ey~s us 1 0
. u Wlt'll l1t~1· dm·k hnlr nnd slont 1. · · xim,ln.cd the cloll more 3
1
•IO~~1Y• ct ~yes, sho wn~11 ~It 11 , .
t 1,u1·l)lonll Mend, My other ~ lolls w ere nll nllk"' r 1·, i (;Ompnrlson
11, _ l 11 1
°· t . · · \,; tlrll )COlltlful with thcll'
nutls of h1om; tor ~ H· ·nown) hnlr hl'ond toot\1 . _
et.\ , . 1 11 1 .1 , ' , Ysm 11 cs, ond wide•
~-.en ~ y~s. Lvt'n "en ,oc o perl'e ctly painted-on coit1 f
o ' 11
d hah· nnd
o·~,,,ot,cd n win fl l ng g1'l n.
. I d ·., - · 'l on
t,t,, . . ldt'l l think
. this. now
"' "I . lCl go riding In
. . ()I\ WOll
l)ntble'S convct·tlble ~lt~l Ken, Why would he pick her when he ulrencly
hnd so tlll\t\Y blooct frltmds to t~hoose from? lkslcles, Instead of u wide
0,ovlc•sl't~I' gl·ln, ,he~ lips were ~\ll'Vud Into a more secretive, sly smile. I
wondered whnt sec1cts .she wns hldlng. Maybe she had crooked teeth.
l onne,uncQd thnt l loved rny new doll. J didn't want my mom and ,
dnd to feel bod, Mnybc th e store didn't hnvc any more Princess .Burble
dolls, so they had to buy me the leftov~rs, or the ones that no one
wonted. I looked nt the nal'ne of thls new blnck-hnlred addition to my
perfect Barbie fnrnlly, l<tm. Klra didn't even have shoes, though her feet
were still arched up, as lf they were wultlng expectantly for thelr missing
shoes, She se~med Incomplete. She was probably missing lots o.f things
besides hct· shoes. My other Burbles all had colorful plostlc high heels to
complement their fashlonable dresses. Thelr outfits were perfect.
"Alnlna," my mom snld, "get youl' thlngs ready so I can drlve you s
over to Sarah's house!" I threw the dark-haired doll into my backpack
with the other Barbtes I was bringing; Sarah and I always shared the
latest additions to our Barbie collections. Everyone always said that
Sarah would grow up to look like Goldie Hawn, some famous movie
star. I didn't think I would gl'Ow up to look like anybody important, not
unless I was like Cinderella, and a fairy godmother went Zap! so I could
be transformed, like magic. Sarah's hair fell in soft waves down her back,
while my own black hair was sJippery and straight, like uncooked spa-
ghetti. I bet Sarah had gotten the Princess Barbie for Christmas.
I liked going over to Sarah's house. Her mom didn't care if we ate 6
raspberries from the backyard without washing them.~ last time l k· l(t>
went there I saw my best friend pluck a juicy purple berry right off the 0SeJ '
1

bush and l~to her mouth. I was amazed that she didn't care about dirf.) .e'1:. •

Sarah's mom let us taste cookie dough from the batter when she baked
cookies. I guess only Chinese people cared about germs. My mother
never baked cookies anyway. Baking cookies is what white mothers do
all the time-they like to make things from "scratch" that turn out soft
and chewy, while Chinese mothers buy cookies from the supermarket
 144 ·u
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1\ ~\~ \.\~ \\U\fd 1

,~N you dip 11iu 1n 111 ,nllk. K1ml1

lhn\ (\1 \I ~\r yn,,~18'' l'l'\~IWh111 ;11
1 1'ij n,,
~lrnONi' IOll, (ll,vloll~ly Nim rntttlQ 111
mot\~ l\w h~~I Hrnw1·unl t11H \1nd1 II 11,, ,~,
tl1 u1't' iodHY· n,n
u~l'l'l\\\'h ," \ hoptid \ Wll~ (•~1111
~ 'KdrlWWllY I 111111pt:d Olll
of IIJl• l'fl l' I
Af\er w~pulh'll l11tn , 11ml' ~hi~ Sn rnl ; nm l I i·o n llp i lJ,t ~lillM ;''fl 7
°'
~o\t\ ~om\a\lye tu my 111 11;,u1:~ <);,
~n\lk\ loo~ nl l\Ct' now~lollh · \ ·1ltij wuy, WI' pMHc,I plhmof1 lttun~ ,
11
Ill 1lw lloor In fro111 of 1Ju1
wtum fmm \h ullr),QI', 10Y\~P';~~~l: 011 'f'V u Y
~n l'lllllt: , 1wn tt 14i11lm1 H, ~nrnh'Hni/,1 1
n~w~pn1w1·s~coUN~d on l lt '1 " cv~ry ti rnc sorn co
nt i c,m 1~~
1 11
pro )0 ) y lHdn'l moku tlw cll n UIJ wowr r
, I m. y~·Ou rhtc~out o11,ny ho ckpurk ~" · '
W(} cou1,1
~ompMC U\lf co oc I"'' "~crore
Upstllll'S, I dl\111)'\lll'oC~u I ~o uld (lvcn look ot. Iler dollN,
Surnh 8
turm:d to me.
11 1noK wl\nt
1ijOll" she sutd proudly,
l knew It. Snrnh hnd gotten the Prl ~
And whot did hove to show hcr'l nccsg Borhlc,
1 Aploln Unrblc friend wlth a funny 10
,K ' \r" 11., l\l" or'llnnry bathing sull un
no mc , "' ,, \! d o sklrl that wo s lust a piece 11
of cloth ·thn t necued to be tied; lt did 8II Ilk l l ·I t
doll hull stmlght blnck holr, no sh n't even Pon c rem c c:>t 1Cff. My
oes, and worst <>f all, she didn't
know how lo smllc 1·lght. even
"We\\ , .. she hos pretty flowers on
her sklrt," Suruh sald helpfully,
"And she looks kind of like yo 12
u I"
She dt,n But I cllcln't want to look like this strange new "frien
Burble. Everyone kn ew thut the d" of 13
J\nrblcs with the blond hair we
best. They were the original on re the
I es. And they always got to we
t\est
dresses. I noticed something, bu ar the prct-
t I dldn't want to say It out lou
\ The best dolls, the most glamo d,
rous ones, were always the on
seemed to look llke Sarah . es that
11
Sarnh, honey,° her mom called.
"Why don't you help me bring
some cookies for you and Alain up u
I you want to, your dolls can try
a?"
My best fr\end turned to me. "I'l
l be right backl" she chirped.
on Princess Barbie's clothes," sh "If 1-'

I generously.
Sarah skipped out of the room,
her head. I turned to my Kira
e
her blond pigtails swinging aro
offered

und 16
doll, regarding her simple outfi
doubted that Princess Barbie's t. I hig hly
I heard of a black-haired doll wi
costume would look right on
her. Whoever
th slanted eyes wearing a crown
\ wouldn't even fit right. Hesitati
ngly, I picked up Sarah's Princ
? Maybe it
She really was beautiful. Slowl ess Barbie.
y, I sllpped off her gown and dre
\ one of the extra doll outfits, a ssed her in
shiny purple top and silver pa
Barbie continued smiling blank nts. Princess
ly at me. l was glad she didn't
I had changed her clothes. mind that
 Wong \ China Doll 245

arefullY, I b u tt o n e d ~ y K
ira d o ll in to th e glitt_ery
C closures h er e; th is d re ss princess g o w n . 11
r-Jo vclcwr ear in real li.fe. T h e su . as g la m o ro u s, like w h a t a princess
O w
n li g h t th ro u g h Sarah's b
~ould tie dress sparkle, as if e d ro o m w in d o w
m y p la in d ar k -h ai re d Kira
made t The doll's secretive doll was ac tu al ly a
sm il e b e g a n to c o m fo rt m e,
pr1•ncet ss.
together. We b o th k n e w th as if we sh a re d a
is w a sn 't h e r real gown, b
secred be princess for a day u t m ay b e sh e
. Ju st m ay b e. I stared a t h
coul. , iridescent ti ar a o n er. Finally I p la ce d
Barbie s to p o f Kira's jet-black hai
r. A n d w h a t d o y o u
? It ftt perfectly.
\{l\OW•