Children of all ages queued up for a photo-opportunity with the American doll.

Eight years after Barbie was first sold on the Chinese mainland, the bright pink Shanghai launch has been arranged to draw in the customers.

Children of all ages queued up for a photo-opportunity with the American doll.

The owner of the Barbie brand, Mattel, says market research shows that previous generations of women in China who didn't have the chance to play with Barbie as a girl, are now also keen Barbie fans.

Gene Murtha, vice president of Int'l Business Development, Mattel Inc., said, "What we found in China that was different than any place else was that there are other generations that respond to it as well. So there are essentially four generations that are compressed in that never had the chance to experience Barbie as they grew up."