Palace Museum takes controversial doll off market

An online store of the Palace Museum took one of their recently released cultural creative products off the market, the princess doll, on Thursday evening, due to the controversial intellectual property.

The official Taobao store of the museum published a statement on their homepage, saying that the dolls were pulled off the shelves because “the body of the doll resembles the product of a certain foreign brand.”

A screenshot of the statement published by Taobao store of the Palace Museum /Taobao‍ Photo

The statement emphasized that the head of the doll was the designers' original, and there is no possibility of a similar one in the market. However, the intellectual property of the doll’s body part belongs to a cooperating factory, which has authorized the store to use it.

The store also expressed gratitude to the “warmhearted friends” who informed them about the resemblance, adding that they will remake the bodies of the dolls with a new mold. 

The princess doll was pulled off the shelves. /Taobao Photo

The recall wins applause

Despite the controversy over the doll, many gave thumb-ups to the quick response of the store, as well as their attitude towards the intellectual property right (IPR). 

“The store may be not strict enough in scrutiny, or the cooperating company’s wrong inspiration, but the Palace Museum’s attitude is persuasive enough. I hope the public would give the original designers a healthy environment and allow them to grow up,” said a Weibo goer @Ershoushou. 

The doll set previously on sell in the Taobao store of the Palace Museum /Taobao Photo

“They are really cute, I’ll be expecting them to hit the market again after the problems are solved,” said another Weibo user @Oragnepudding.

“The store has successfully turned a possible dispute into a good example of protecting the intellectual property right. Great example for dealing with public relations,” commented @Zhonglouqingtai on Weibo.

The Palace Museum is a forerunner among its contemporaries in the cultural creative industry. Most of its designs are based on cultural resources and relics of the Palace Museum. According to a report at the end of 2017, the museum has at least 9,170 types of self-developed products, with the annual turnover exceeding one billion yuan (58 million US dollars).

A comparison of the bodies between the domestic and the foreign dolls. /CGTN Photo

The products include bookmarks, key chains, stationaries, commodities, statues and models of the antiques and relics.

“Our purpose is to connect the cultural relics and resources with the daily life, aestheticism and requirements of the public,” said Shan Jixiang, curator of the museum in an interview. “We’ve been focusing on the smooth ‘dialogue’ between the traditional culture and the life dominated by the Internet.”

A photo of the doll /Photo via Taobao

And they have been doing well. The museum has official accounts on almost all social media platforms, such as Weibo and WeChat, and with a total of more than six million followers.

China to tighten protection of intellectual properties

In the meantime, the country has constantly emphasized the importance of protecting IPR in recent years, as it is gearing up in building up an innovation-oriented economy.

A photo of the dolls /Taobao Photo

The protection of the IPR was also highlighted during this year’s Two sessions. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reiterated in the Government Work Report that China will set up its punitive damages system for IPR infringement. 

Shen Changyu, head of the State Intellectual Property Office, also said that in the past five years, a total of 190,000 cases involving IPR have been handled, with a 40-percent average rise every year. Shen also vowed that they will expedite the revision of the Patent Law and the Copyright Law. 

The country will also set up a new intellectual property administration as part of the institutional reform and restructuring of the State Council, the country’s cabinet, to put even more efforts in IPR protection.

BERLIN (AP) — The Swedish government promised on Friday to fight the sale of childlike sex dolls online after instances of such commerce had been reported earlier in the country.

“I think I react on behalf of all parents when I say that, as a mother, your heart really breaks watching these images and pictures of these dolls," Sweden’s Minister for Social Services, Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, told The Associated Press.

The Swedish government wants “to make sure these products cannot any more be sold and bought anywhere,” she said.

She spoke after a meeting which the Swedish government convened on Friday “in response to several notable cases of e-commerce companies selling childlike sex dolls,” according to a statement by her ministry. Child protection groups, online vendors and government agencies participated.

The online platforms described the measures they are taking to make sure these kinds of products are no longer sold online, Waltersson Grönvall said.

Asked whether the ministry considers those measures sufficient, Waltersson Grönvall said: “I have been very clear that we will follow this very closely and we will not hesitate to take further action, which might involve further legislation if that is considered necessary.”

She said the government was preparing a strategy on protecting children from violence, which included steps to prevent sexual and online abuse.

The online sale of the disputed dolls in Sweden came to the public's attention after the child protection group ChildX filed a police report against Amazon and several other e-commerce platforms earlier this month over the sale of sex dolls with a clear childlike appearance.

“The products, approximately one meter in length, are often dressed in school uniforms and marketed in a sexualized context,” the group said. “Swedish legislation prohibits material that portrays children in a sexualized manner. The sale or distribution of lifelike child-like sex dolls may thus fall under criminal provisions related to child sexual exploitation.”

ChildX Secretary General Ida Östensson, also speaking by phone to the AP, said that “our police complaint against Amazon and other sites for selling child-like sex dolls, together with public advocacy, led to the removal of these listings on Amazon.”

“We are taking this step because these products are designed to sexualize children,” said Östensson. “Their open sale and marketing fuel a culture that normalizes the sexual abuse of children. This is unacceptable. Children should never be commodified for sexual purposes.”

Online vendor Amazon said in a written statement sent to AP after Friday's meeting that “protecting children and adolescents is a priority for us and we welcome this opportunity to strengthen collaboration with public authorities and NGOs on this important matter.”

The company added that “we have strict policies and guidelines in the segment of adult products and we have always strictly prohibited child pornography.” It said it has “clear and strict policies prohibiting the sale of sex dolls with child-like appearances, which all third-party sellers on our store must follow.”

In November, France’s government said it was moving toward suspending access to the Shein online marketplace until it proves its content conforms to French law, after authorities found illegal weapons and child-like sex dolls for sale on the fast-fashion giant’s website.

Claudia Ciobanu reported from from Warsaw, Poland.

Minister of Social Services Camilla Waltersson Grönvall meets the media after meeting with e-commerce companies, children's rights organizations and authorities following the high-profile reporting on sex dolls depicting children, in Stockholm, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (Lars Schröder/TT News Agency via AP)