appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Yuanyue Dang

Hollywood’s latest comedy Barbie has stirred up a rare wave of discussion about women’s rights in China.
Directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, the film tells the story of dolls Barbie and Ken as they leave Barbie Land and travel to the real world on a journey of self-discovery.
Among other things, the movie pokes fun at the huge gap between Barbie Land, where women fill all the positions of power ranging from president, supreme court judges and top writers, to the real world, where “man rules the world” – which character Ken says in one scene in disbelief.
Since hitting mainland cinemas on July 21, the film’s box office earnings, which stood at 140 million yuan (US$19.6 million) as of Friday, are relatively low in China’s movie-going market, which has boomed since the lifting of Covid-19 control measures in December.
But Barbie, which entered the Chinese market under a strict quota for foreign movies and movie censorship imposed by film regulators, has seen discussion around the film and its themes gain momentum. At the heart of that discussion is the film’s presentation of toxic masculinity and its support of feminism.
It comes at a time when Chinese women are arguably least represented among the ruling elite. For the first time in decades, there are no women in the 24-member Politburo after the decision-making body was unveiled in October.


The move did not go unnoticed, with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) voicing its concerns in a statement in May that “there have been no women at the highest executive level”.
While none of the discussions about Barbie have touched on Chinese politics, it could end up being the pink-loving Barbie character who will “lead the way to affirmative feminist action”, according to a Weibo user named Hong Qianchen.
Social media has seen a flurry of activity since the movie was released, with many women commenting that they saw male viewers leave the cinema midway, saying it was because they were irritated by the film’s dialogue criticising toxic masculinity.
On Hupu, a sports forum with mainly male users, more than 3,500 people gave Barbie a score of 5.6 out of 10.
But on Douban, China’s popular film rating site, Barbie received a score of 8.5 out of 10 from more than 280,000 users as of Thursday – higher than any other film in its time slot.
A comment on Douban, which was liked more than 25,000 times, said: “You know, Chinese women don’t get many chances to see a film with a purely female perspective in the cinema.”
Some Chinese feminists argue that the movie, which has attracted an audience that crosses a wide social range, has provided a rare platform in China for public discussion of women’s rights and gender issues.

Zhou Xiaoxuan, a scriptwriter who rose to national fame for daring to go public with accusations of sexual harassment by a famous state television host, said the film provided a public space for Chinese women to discuss gender issues.
“Every girl can go to the cinema with her friends and discuss the film,” Zhou said. “Even though the film is not entirely about feminism, it’s very meaningful in China.
“It means every cinema can be a space that hosts feminism.”
Zhou was involved in one of the most high-profile cases in China’s #MeToo movement. In 2018, she accused Zhu Jun, a prominent host at CCTV, of sexually harassing her during her 2014 internship at the state broadcaster. A Beijing court dismissed Zhou’s allegations in 2021 and rejected her appeal last year, attributing it to a lack of evidence.
“Me and a lot of my friends who are feminists have reunited because of Barbie. Going to the cinema is a legal activity that no one can stop,” Zhou said.
Zhang Zhiqi, co-anchor of Stochastic Volatility, one of China’s most popular podcasts, said the movie’s value was more in its wide audience reach than in its content.
“I can only say it’s a film about the patriarchy,” Zhang said. “There are more insightful and pioneering films we’ve seen as feminists, but they are not commercial films for general audiences.”
How Yellen’s women’s power lunch exposed China’s divide over women’s rights
That kind of cinema experience related to feminism was fresh, Zhang said.
The discussions around Barbie run counter to Chinese society’s generally low interest or tolerance for critical voices related to women’s rights.
In Chinese pop culture, works directly touching on gender are rare and often cause heated debates or market indifference.
Stand-up comedian Yang Li, who rose to fame in 2020 and is known for her satire about arrogant men, was attacked for her appearance, and the brands she endorsed were boycotted by some customers, after her clips went viral.
And in 2017, Angels Wear White, a mainland film about a sexually abused minor, won best director at the Golden Horse Awards, arguably the most important awards for Chinese-language cinema, yet it only took 20 million yuan (US$2.79 million) at the box office in China.


‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with raping US girl, 17

CUHK economist apologises over talk that examined women ‘marrying for money’

Style Edit: YDC 2026 spotlights Hong Kong’s fashion trailblazers

Indian transgender patients left in limbo following legal amendments

Women and gender

How Barbie is reigniting discussion in China about feminism and women’s rights

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie star in the Greta Gerwig-directed film Barbie, which is seeing a wave of feminist discussion sweep China. Photo: Warner Bros/TNS

Margot Robbie, as her Barbie character, fills a giant screen in a promotion for the film outside a shopping centre in Beijing. Photo: AFP

Barbie movie review: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling star in Greta Gerwig’s hilarious comedy-musical

Margot Robbie in a still from “Barbie”. Photo: Jaap Buitendijk.

Margot Robbie in a still from “Barbie” (category IIA), directed by Greta Gerwig. Ryan Gosling co-stars. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

Ryan Gosling (centre) in a still from “Barbie”. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

Simu Liu (front) in a still from “Barbie”. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

A still from “Barbie”. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

Vietnam bans Barbie movie for showing Beijing’s South China Sea claims

Margot Robbie in Barbie. The film was originally slated to open in Vietnam on July 21. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures/TNS

Vietnamese fishing boats in the South China Sea. Beijing’s “nine-dash line” lays claim to vast areas of the waterway, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf. Photo: AFP

News

China

Politics

Hollywood movie has become the unlikely heroine at a time when women in China are least represented in ruling elite
Women say they have seen men leave the cinema during Chinese screenings of Barbie over the film’s dialogue criticising toxic masculinity


Hollywood’s latest blockbuster has become the unlikely heroine in fighting China’s gender disparity.
