In an effort to keep his eight year old daughter quiet, a Chinese man bought her about two dozen Barbie dolls. The plan backfired because he started hearing the protests from his wife instead.

The man was so desperate to please his daughter he spent 5,000 yuan ($625) on 10 school bags and 20 Barbie dolls. The father's shopping sprees ended up frightening his daughter who stopped making gift demands but the wasted money angered his wife who threatened to divorce him.

As a result of the one-child policy in China, the offspring, known as Little Emperors, are expected to underpin a domestic consumption boom in the next decade.

In 1977, China introduced the one-child policy to manage a population that officially hit 1.3 billion last year.

And for the Barbie doll case, the man's mother-in-law took all of the dolls back to the shop for a full refund.