Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
| Ni Hao, Kai-Lan | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Children's Fantasy |
| Created by | Karen Chau |
| Developed by | Mary Harrington Karen Chau Judy Rothman Sascha Paladino |
| Written by | Sascha Paladino (Head Writer) Bradley Zweig (Staff Writer) |
| Directed by | David Marshall |
| Starring | Jade-Lianna Peters Clem Cheung Ben Wang Jack Samson Khamani Griffin Angie Wu Beverly Duan Terence Hardy Hsiang Lo |
| Theme music composer | Matt Mahaffey |
| Opening theme | Theme song composed by Matt Mahaffey |
| Country of origin | Canada United States |
| Original language(s) | English Chinese |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 40 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Mary Harrington |
| Producer(s) | Sascha Paladino Supervising Producers: David Marshall Jeff DeGrandis |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Harringtoons Productions Nickelodeon Animation Studios Cookie Jar Entertainment |
| Distributor | DHX Media |
| Release | |
| Original network | Nick Jr. |
| Original release | November 5, 2007 – November 4, 2011 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan (simplified Chinese: 你好, 凯兰; traditional Chinese: 你好，凱蘭; pinyin: Nǐ hǎo, Kǎi Lán!; Hello, Kai-Lan) is a Canadian/American animated interactive children's television series which premiered on Nickelodeon on November 5, 2007, and on Noggin (now Nick Jr.) on December 15, 2008. It also premiered on the Canadian television channel Treehouse TV.
Ni Hao, Kai-lan is based on the childhood memories of the show's creator Karen Chau growing up in a bicultural (Chinese-American) household. “Ni hao” means “Hello” in Mandarin, and Kai-Lan is the Chinese name Chau was given at birth, which was later anglicized to Karen. It was also based on the classic short series Downward Doghouse.
The setting of the show appears to be China or Ancient China throughout most episodes. However, it's revealed in the Season 1 finale that they all live in California, possibly in Chinatown. It appears most of the characters (except Kai-Lan, YeYe and GuNaiNai) aren't Chinese. This is not explained. Ni Hao, Kai-lan introduces its viewers to the Mandarin Chinese language, along with elements of Chinese culture and values, multiculturalism (through the diverse backgrounds of Kai-lan's friends), and intergenerational families (e.g., Kai-lan and her relationship with Ye Ye).
Episodes generally feature breaking the fourth wall, 11 minutes of interactivity, a target word that is repeated multiple times, a few words of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary, one or more of Kai-lan's friends having a negative emotional response to some action or activity (problem), Kai-lan thinking out loud (observation), cause-and-effect problem solving, and before saying goodbye (at the end of each episode), Kai-lan says, "You make my heart feel super happy!" Later installments added Kai-lan saying this phrase in Mandarin after she said it in English: "Ni rang wo hao kai xin!"
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