When Yue Sai Kan visited China several years ago, she made a promise to bring back a Chinese doll for a friend's daughter. But after an exhaustive search, Kan realized that, even throughout Asia, fashion dolls have sandy blond hair and Caucasian features.

"When I found out there was no Asian doll, I was stunned," Kan says.

Now Kan is the creator of a line of dolls called Yue Sai Wa Wa (wa wa means both "doll" and "little girl" in Chinese). When it was recently introduced to U.S. markets on the QVC home shopping network, a seismic $350,000 worth of dolls were sold in the first hour. Now Yue Sai Wa Wa is available at retailers such as Toys R' Us and FAO Schwartz.

For Kan, a popular TV personality and cosmetics giant in China, starting a line of dolls that celebrate Asian beauty was a natural evolution.

She notes that several companies have attempted to introduce Asian dolls into the Chinese market, but failed quickly because they did not take the time to produce quality dolls. Kan explains the absence of Asian fashion dolls quite simply: "It's hard to make a beautiful doll."

Not only did Kan make sure Yue Sai Wa Wa was beautifully crafted, but each doll comes with an educational story on the back of the box. One doll comes with a history of the chi-pao – the high neck dress often associated with Chinese fashion.

The doll appeals to Americans of all stripes, says Kan, who considers the doll "an ambassador to the West".

Although Yue Sai Wawa is a Chinese doll, Kan said QVC will introduce Thai and Japanese versions on June 27, followed by Korean and Vietnamese versions in October. Kan is also planning to launch an Indian doll in the near future. For now, the differences in these dolls will lie in their costumes, but the company is currently developing dolls with different facial features for different ethnicities.

When asked if she thinks Barbie's multicultural friends pose any competition, Kan quickly dismisses the suggestion - "Barbie is too busy being Barbie."