The purchaser of a doll can be anyone, they may be silent and unassuming in their daily lives, but they may be eagerly discussed in the circle of doll lovers.
The hundreds of dolls made every day in Jun Ying's workshop carry a certain expectation, flowing stealthily in desire.
In the 2,400 sq ft warehouse, more than 700 headless, naked "bodies" hang on more than 30 rows of wire racks, covered in plastic film, next to a wigged, exquisitely made-up "head".

The staff were methodically applying make-up and false eyelashes to the dolls, making the otherwise lifeless faces look good and realistic. "When they are sent out, the heads are temporarily separated from the bodies and assembled by the buyers themselves, like a small ritual to create a connection between the dolls and their owners.
Compared to the usual inflatable dolls that are prone to air leaks, awkward shapes and crude production, these silicone dolls are higher-end erotic objects, with hidden veins and almost realistic pores and hair visible on closer inspection, and they can sell for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
1

The Prism of Desire
In Xie Gang, Dongguan, deserted roadside meadows connect one processing plant after another. This unpopular town is home to a wide variety of processing factories, it is the 'eastern gate' of Dongguan and the epitome of its strong manufacturing industry.
It may be difficult to conjure up a range of ideas about the flirtatious in this unattractive town, but in a workshop converted from a residential building here, things closely related to lust are made, stored and packaged.
In 2015, Liu Ying took over a production workshop in this remote village, gave his brand the name Jun Ying and began developing real-life silicone dolls. In the same year, Jun Ying put up the first doll product on Taobao, with a direct price tag of 9,998 yuan. That year, Jun Ying's sales broke a million.
The Yimei doll community is the largest physical doll forum in China, and Jun Ying's physical dolls are one of the most discussed brands in the forum, the hottest being their "Siu Sin" - a face modeled after a Korean actress, pure and lustful.

Hsiao-tsing is just a head shape, and customers can match different bodies to their preferences and needs. "We usually also advise our customers to make a choice in a certain height range, because then the overall match won't be out of place", says Xiao Zhang, a clerk at Jun Ying and a receptionist at the warehouse showroom. She came to Jun Ying right after she graduated and this was her first job.
"When I first came here, I felt a bit strange and shy", but a job is always a job, so I got used to it over time. Zhang has received all kinds of customers in the showroom, many of whom do not shy away from their needs and fetishes. "If he was really embarrassed, he would not have come offline to pick, but would have shopped directly online".
The showroom is not large, the C-suite is standing with the seemingly unattractive "Siu Sin", other styles of dolls are sitting or standing in the showroom, their faces are all equally exquisite and beautiful, their breasts are full and their waists are slim. Most of the people who come here to buy are men, most of them are single young men, "most of them are white-collar workers, after all, to afford such dolls requires a certain amount of financial strength".

In 2018, a customer from Shandong took a two-day green train ride to Dongguan and waited at the factory entrance at dawn, "he was keen to buy a doll and was not comfortable online, so he had to come over to the factory to see and pick it himself". This customer has a very stressful life, raising his daughter alone after a divorce and taking care of his 80+ year old mother, and dolls that sell for thousands are not cheap for him, "but he needs them again". To save money, he did not even go to live in a hotel, but waited directly in front of the factory, and then took the train back to Shandong for two days after the selection on the same day.
There are also people in their 60s who come to buy, "many of the needs of the elderly are actually ignored by us, their desire for sex has not completely faded", perhaps because it is difficult to talk about it, or perhaps they are afraid of not being understood, "they can only choose the dolls".
The dolls here come in hundreds of shapes and sizes, tall, short, slender and voluptuous, with facial expressions, make-up and even body temperature and voice that can be customised on demand. Here, the dolls are like a multi-prism, reflecting a wide range of desires.
2

Eroticism and companionship
The earliest dolls originated in the 17th century as the 'Dutch wife'. As Dutch merchants went to sea a lot and their wives stayed at home, they used bamboo and rattan to weave a tube pillow to meet their needs, which became known as a 'Dutch wife'.
In 1956, the Japanese Antarctic expedition set foot in Antarctica for the first time. In order to give the expedition peace of mind in Antarctica, the Japanese Ministry of Education ordered a team of scientists and psychologists to develop the 'Dutch wife', codenamed 'Antarctic One'. The team spent two years working on three prototypes of the doll, which were abandoned because they were too ineffective. The government then left it alone and the planned Antarctica II was given to a private company to develop. As a result, once the order was placed with the private company, the dolls were everywhere.
Japan, the birthplace of erotic products, produces dolls that are also benchmarks in the industry, especially the realistic silicone dolls that sell for 20-30,000. In China, the consumption level of physical dolls is generally within 10,000 yuan, and dolls made mainly of TPE are the choice of more doll lovers, "selling at a cheaper price and softer to the touch".
With the development of Japanese dolls, there is a growing demand for realistic silicone dolls to be purchased. Compared to TPE, silicone is less 'oily', fresher to the touch and closer to the texture of the skin. At the same time, silicone is also harder, coupled with the alloy skeleton that mimics the structure of the human skeleton, the weight of the doll is basically 60 to 70 pounds, because the doll's limb joints can only be twisted by a person to make a certain movement, not like the real person as independent activities, mutual cooperation, so the use is also considered a strength work, in the comments section, there are many buyers said, "play a few years, you can consider going to lift weights! " and "If you don't have enough arm strength, it's better to work out first".
Mak, the head of Jun Ying, recalls that demand for dolls surged in the second half of 2018, "it was obvious that there were more and more single men", "one customer repurchased several times, and he had dolls on his bed and in all corners of his room", and some people even bought dolls in order to put down Some people even bought a suite to put more dolls down. It was also the year that Jun Ying's dolls came in different skin tones and a wider range of head shapes and body types, and they were exported to countries such as the USA and Canada.

The doll is not just a tool either, if you want it to last longer, it needs to be taken care of, timely cleaning and applying talcum powder is essential. When not in use, the doll's limbs need to be restored to their original state to avoid cracking. Some people will put the doll in a box, while others will dress it up and display it at home.
For many doll lovers, the doll is an emotional companion in addition to addressing a physical need.
3

The desensitised
None of the staff at Junshang are doll lovers, and they don't know much about the joys of playing with dolls.
Three or four years ago, "Hsiao-tsing" became the first model of the Jun Ying family to explode, and it is also an enduring classic in their family, until now more than 200 are sold every month. When it comes to the popularity of Hsiao-tsing, they attribute it to the "good-looking face" rather than the feel of the skin and the curves of the body.
Body proportions and data can refer to anime, soldiers, BJD dolls, but from the 2D picture of the "face" to the 3D "head", relying on the experience and skills of sculptors and make-up artists, "a little bit of detail, the feeling is different. The slightest difference in detail will make a difference". So, "the face is the core asset of a doll company".

The process of making a doll is far from being 'flashy'.
The first step in the creation of a physical doll is to sculpt the form out of clay. The sculptor then sculpts the clay figure from data and pictures to make the mould, which is then ready for mass production. With alloy material as the 'bone' and TPE or silicone as the 'flesh', the material is fired and poured into the mould, cooled and then trimmed, and the shape of a solid doll is created. At this point, the skin of the doll's limbs is white, like squeezed toothpaste, with no life or style. Only after the make-up is applied and coloured does it barely take on a look of colour.
In the workshop, the heavy work of tying the skeleton and filling the glue is mainly done by male workers, while those who trim the edges and apply make-up on the assembly line are mostly female. Their hands are generally wrinkled and calloused, and these hands work from head to toe to create realistic skin details for the dolls, implanting hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, adding delicate red lips and blushes ...... to make the dolls in their hands into fine, fair-skinned beauties.

Naked dolls are commonplace here, and workers who were shy and embarrassed when they first arrived have long since been desensitised. Here the doll is just an object, carefully crafted and then packed into cardboard boxes to be shipped across the country. Occasionally, a very pretty face and make-up will cause them a brief moment of awe and admiration, but they are soon back to business as usual. They can be anime sex dolls, mini sex dolls, Japanese sex dolls and so on
The forums were much livelier than the reticence in the production rooms, but the dolls' experiences as sex dolls were not the most discussed, more the photos of doll lovers who had dressed up their dolls, their knowledge of care and their newbie's guide to avoiding lightning.
Some would keep a diary of the details of their time with the doll, they treated her like a real person, washing and dressing her and talking to her every day, "previous human girlfriends, either looking at their phones or making demands, but the doll was a focused and quiet listener." If he gave his ex-girlfriend a score of 100, he gave the doll a score of 1000 and bought her a Cartier watch as a gift.