Ni Hao, Kai-lan
Nick Jr is creating a series called Ni Hao, Kai-lan. It will be about a little girl who speaks both Mandarin and English, and is scheduled to debut in the fall.
It’s supposed to be an animated series for preschoolers about a Chinese-American family, and is reported to have been created by a first-generation Chinese-American. So far that’s about all I’ve been able to find out about it.
Most of the reports say “think Dora the Explorer with an Asian theme”.
I found what is probably an image from the series here. He points to a NY Times article that has two lines about the show, so if you aren’t already registered it’s not worth it to register for that article.
I am pretty happy about this. Anything to give our daughters (and sons) a reason to feel positive about where they came from and who they are is a good thing in my book.
Update: You can watch three short shows here, but only with IE. Apparently the Nick Jr site does not play nice with Firefox: http://www.nickjr.com/home/my_world_stories/index.jhtml
January 18th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
I agree. FABULOUS. My daughter loves Dora, and I know she will love this. Thanks for posting this RQ, I appreciate this.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
That would be great, maybe I could learn some more Mandarin! Role models for our kids is good…
January 18th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
And some easy to find dolls, books, products portraying Asian kids…………..gotta love marketing of kids shows……..will make my toy shopping a lot easier!!!
January 18th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I just googled it and found an article by newsday.com that says it’s scheduled to debut in the spring of 2007 so it may be out sooner than later. Yeah!
Now…to find out how to get Nick Jr. on my tv.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Awesome! Today one of my students (4 year old) came with a present for me. It was an Asian puppet family from Lakeshore Learning. I started to cry. I love it!
Hey! ABC News is reporting that the Consumer Reports article about carseats has been pulled b/c of significant faults in testing. Basically, they said that the crash tests were done at 38 mph and the govt. reenacted their tests and said that the CR test had to have been done at 70 to 80 mph to get those results. Sorry to be off topic but I thought it important. Especially, for those of us who have recently spent a fortune on carseats that “failed” the CR test.
Have a great evening-
SIS
January 18th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Last yr around Chinese New Year Nick Jr. had a Kai-lan short on their website. I think there were 3 of them actually. One told all about Chinese New Year. They were trying to see if there was enough of an interest to turn it into a show…looks like there was!!!
I would think you could still find it on the Nick Jr site if you search Chinese New Year or KaiLan.
I just went to check…there is no search on Nick Jr that I can find, but if you Google Kai Lan or Kai Lan Chinese New Year the link is there…but I don’t think is working anymore (the CNY one) but it does look like there are others you can see.
The ones I saw were interactive…we made a lantern with it last year. :)
January 18th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I found the original (to me anyway) post about KaiLan on APC back in Oct 05…it’s post #229170 if anyone is interested in trying to get to them.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Sorry to keep posting everyone!! Ok…shortcut….go to Nick jr’s site and go to shows, then click on Downward Doghouse and you’ll find KaiLan there. And they want to know what your kiddos think of the short clips, so let them know!
January 18th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
AH! I remember Downward Doghouse, I had no idea that this was the same thing.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Cool. Does she have an animated self-aware backpack? A talking panda with boots?
Ally likes Dora and Diego, but never got into Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat, the Amy Tan series on PBS. May have been a little too advanced for her, so hopefully she’ll like this one.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
That is great info. Thank you RQ for your heads up on this. I am finding this site very helpful, even more so recently. If we could just get some good rumors now! Oh-BTW, Toys R Us has a sweet Asian baby doll available at ToysRUs.com
Meg
LID 9/29
January 18th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Ohhh we love Downward Doghouse! I would love to see this on Nick Jr.!
January 18th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I can’t get the videos to play! I really want to see it! Help please!
January 18th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
How wonderful!! I can’t wait until it comes on!! I’m so glad that you shared this, RQ!!!
His,
Mrs. U
LID 9-12-05
referral 1-04-07
travel??????
http://www.makingahouseahome.blogspot.com
http://www.youbelong.net/upchurchfamily
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CSRAChinaAdopt
January 18th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Am I the only one who is dismayed to see the Asian girl has those big round eyes like you see in so much Japanese animation? It just bums me that the big round eyes seem to be such a focus. I wish she had Asian eyes.
January 18th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
This sounds wonderful! I don’t have kids (yet) but I have heard that Dora is a huge hit, so this should be fabulous! And I agree RQ, anything that is making the Chinese heritage more known about and easy to understand in a childrens show is a wonderful thing! I can’t wait to have a little one so we can watch it together! We should HOPEFULLY have her before next fall…
Jessa (praying that we have before next fall…)
January 18th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
waiting4emily~ It is dissapointing to see, I to wish that she would look more like a Chinese little girl. Not all of them have slanted eyes, but most do. I hope they will be incorporating the Chinese language into the show (like they do on Dora with Spanish). It would be a great way for the little one to pick up some simple terms to use!
J
January 18th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
all I can say is it’s about time we see more Asian (Asian-American) themed ANYTHING!
I know that hispanics are the largest minority (majority in some places) in the US, but Asian-Americans are the fastest growing. (at least according to an article I read last year) This is very good news and very exciting!
p.s. not all Chinese have ’slanted’ eyes. I don’t think it should be an issue. just the fact that someone is putting something like program is the main thing! :)
i mean no offense to anyone obviously…
January 19th, 2007 at 6:43 am
That is so neat! I cannot wait to see the show!! Thanks for the info, RQ!
January 19th, 2007 at 11:15 am
I agree with you all that it’s exciting to see a show like this. The only reason the eyes bothered me is I remember a thread on here a while back about standards of beauty and certain Asian characteristics being rejected by the Chinese as not being desirable. It just saddened me and that’s what I was thinking about. Our female children of any race seem to be subjected to so many unrealistic standards these days, but I guess that would be a topic for a whole other thread :) I look forward to the show…
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
It’s funny to read that in the orginal version Dora speaks English and Spanish. Over here (in the Netherlands) Dora speaks Dutch (when the original version speaks English) and English (when the original version speaks Spanish). In never thought of Dora as Hispanic/Latin American, just as a brown-eyed-girl.
We have Nick jr. so I hope to see Kai-Lan on our screen in the near future. Speaking Dutch and Mandarin I guess :)
Did anyone catch I glimpse of the song and animation ‘no mirrors in my Nana’s house’? I loved it! Thank you RQ for the link.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I saw Dora in China and she was speaking English and Mandarin. I didn’t realize they substituted the Spanish for another language in other countries. Pretty neat.
Also, and I’m not trying to be nitpicky, accuse anyone of anything or be rude, but just as a FYI to save you from accidentally hurting someone’s feelings, slant(ed) eyes is not really a PC term. Please don’t take this the wrong way, I am not trying to start anything. *ducks*
Marsha
mom to 3 bio kiddos
MiaoXin LID 3-28-06 adopted 7-10-06 Huazhou, Guangdong
QiQi LID 2-16-07 adopted 8-06-07 Lianyungang, Jiangsu
http://www.informedadoptions.com
January 12th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
d’oh I forgot I clicked to read an old post. Oops.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:06 am
I don’t understand why referring to our eyes as slanted would be so offensive. If you were to measure the angle of my eyes, you’d see that it slants at about a 5-10 degree angle. Anyone who is offended by the term “slanted” is simply in denial of the reality of our features, or someone who has been taught by the diversity-negligent, genocidal media that slanted eyes are something to be ashamed of. Our eyes are slanted. Get over it.
Oh, and check out my latest post regarding Ni Hao, Kai-Lan on RiceDaddies dot com