I’ve watched your children, playing in the sand,
Pretty little girls with a yellow hair-band,
Cheeky little boys with their snub-nosed faces,
Kicking and a-tripping over dragging shoe-laces,
Little brown eyes, and stubby little hands,
They laugh and delight, these children of the Han.
So why do their Ma ma’s buy them little dolls
With blond hair and blue eyes from western malls?

Kan kan woman if you can can see,
Look in the mirror at your rare beauty;
Who’s got the hair that would steal men’s glances,
Coal black and straight, that your face enhances,
High cheek-bones, and your almond eyes
Now look at your child, be proud, be wise,
Why make them think they’re less than they are
Than a blond haired bimbo in a western bar?

Sons of the dragon, and little princesses,
Need to be loved, to be held – caresses!
They should be playing with a doll just like them
Not something borrowed from a Disney production,
Toss all the Barbies and the blue-eyed babies,
Revel in the glow of your eastern features,
I’m just a westerner, wandering the place,
But I can’t find a doll with a Chinese face!

David Lewis Paget