Scott Lewis

A damning report – Chinese parents favor foreign-brand toys – has recently revealed that middle-class parents in China are shunning Chinese toys in favour of foreign brand names.

Hot on the heels of the recent lead paint scandal which rocked the Chinese toy industry, the report by the Associated Press showed that parents aren't willing to take chances with Chinese toys.

Indeed, more and more parents are turning away from traditional wooden toys and buying their children Danish Lego blocks, American Barbie dolls and Transformer figures from Japan. It's not something that's happening on a small scale, either- in many of Beijing's mall toy stores, foreign toy labels take up far more shelf space than the home-grown brands.

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