''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan'' is an American animated

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

produced by

Nickelodeon Animation Studio Nickelodeon Animation Studio is an American animation studio owned by Paramount Global. It has created many original television programs for Nickelodeon, such as ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', '' The Fairly OddParents'', '' Rugrats'' and '' Avatar: ...

. It began as a series of three interstitial shorts on Nick Jr. called ''Downward Doghouse''. The first full episode was initially set to premiere in fall 2007 on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block in the United States, but it was pushed back to February 7, 2008, coinciding with

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

. ''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan'' is based on the childhood memories of the show's creator, Karen Chau, who grew up in a bicultural (Chinese-American) household. "Ni hao" (你好 ''nǐ hǎo'') means "Hello" in Mandarin, and Kai-Lan (凯兰 ''Kǎilán'') is the Chinese name Chau was given at birth, which was later anglicized to Karen. The first two seasons had 20 episodes each. The third season consisted of a two-part series finale.

Sascha Paladino Sascha Paladino is an American television writer and documentary director. At Nickelodeon, he was the head writer and developer of ''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan'', for which he received a 2010 Daytime Emmy Award nomination. He also wrote for other Nick-produ ...

was the head writer and developer for the show. The entire series was released on

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

(at the time CBS All Access) on January 19, 2021.

Premise

The series follows the adventures of Kai-Lan and her group of talking anthropomorphic animal companions. The group consists of Kai-Lan, a 6-year-old

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...

girl; Rintoo, a yellow

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present i ...

; Tolee, a gray

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the ...

; Lulu, a light pink

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct specie ...

; and Hoho, a white

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

. Each episode is based around a series of events that occur during Kai-Lan's day, along with obstacles that she and her friends are forced to overcome (with "assistance" from the viewing audience) relating to riddles, playing games, and working together. Common rituals may involve Kai-Lan resolving conflicts with her friends when they feel negative emotions. To help them, Kai-Lan has the audience help her figure out why they are having difficult situations. Usually, once Kai-Lan's friends discover that their actions are wrong, they apologize and promise to work together better. The audience is usually presented with two musical sing-alongs where Kai-Lan sings about what must be done to overcome her and her friends' challenges. The episode always ends with Kai-Lan successfully helping her friends and everyone getting along. In the Season 1 finale, it is stated that they all live in California. Other aspects generally featured in episodes are breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

, 11 minutes of interactivity, a target word that is repeated multiple times, a few words of

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

vocabulary, 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." ''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan'' introduces its viewers to the

language, along with elements of Chinese culture and values, and intergenerational families (e.g., Kai-Lan and her relationship with Ye Ye).

Episodes

Characters

Main

* Kai-Lan (voiced by Jade Lianna Peters) is a playful and adventurous 6-year-old

girl with a big heart. She has fair skin,

brown eyes Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic character determined by two distinct factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris. In humans, the pig ...

and black hair that she wears in two space buns with red flowers. Kai-Lan speaks both English and Mandarin Chinese. Also, she can translate the languages. *Rintoo (voiced by Jack Samson) is a rambunctious and energetic yellow 5 year old

with a frontal lisp. *Tolee (voiced by

Khamani Griffin Khamani Griffin (born August 1, 1998) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Bobby James on the UPN/The CW sitcom ''All Of Us'' as well as Tolee in the animated television series ''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan''. He starred as Ben Hinton in ''Da ...

) is a gray

who has a stuffed panda that he affectionately named Pandy. *Lulu (voiced by Beverly Duan) is a sweet and intelligent pink

. She has a red balloon tied around her horn that helps her fly. *Hoho (voiced by Angie Wu) is an energetic white

and is the youngest of Kai-Lan's friends. At three, he is still very strong. *Ye-Ye (voiced by Clem Cheung (English dialogue) and Ben Wang (Chinese dialogue)) is Kai-lan's playful, thoughtful, and caring grandfather. He was born in Hong Kong and passes on his traditions to his granddaughter. *At the start of almost every episode, Kai-Lan wakes up Mr. Sun with a tickle so she can start her day. *In one corner of Kai-Lan's backyard is a teeming mini-metropolis of ants called Ant City who deliver mail and build things. San San is their leader along with his two right-hand ants, Bubu and Fufu. San San is voiced by Zachary Gordon, Bubu by Luke Manriquez, and Fufu by Kyla Rae Kowalewski.

Other, grown-up, and minor characters

* Howard (voiced by

) is an owl who first appears in "The Dragonboat Festival." He delivers letters and only speaks in hoots. * Mr. Fluffy (voiced by Elan Garfias) is a

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The ...

and

baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Si ...

who first appears in "Everybody's Hat Parade." * Mei Mei (Chinese for "younger sister", voiced by

Laura Marano Laura Marie Marano (born November 29, 1995) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her role in the Disney Channel series ''Austin & Ally'' as Ally Dawson. Marano was one of the five original classmates in '' Are You Smarter than a ...

) is a shy blue

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear spec ...

. * Stompy (voiced by Hsiang Lo) is a big, playful blue

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

who made his first appearance in "Safari Pals." * GuNaiNai (voiced by

Ming-Na Wen Ming-Na Wen (; born November 20, 1963) is an American actress and model. She voiced Mulan in the animated film '' Mulan'' and its sequel, portrayed Melinda May / The Cavalry in '' Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' (2013–2020), and Fennec ...

) is Kai-Lan's great-aunt and Ye-Ye's sister. She appears in "Kai-Lan's Trip to China." * Xiao Xi Gua (meaning "little watermelon") is a baby

panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...

. He appears in "Kai-Lan's Trip to China." * The Peeking Mice are little, black mice who are often seen playing music. They are voiced by assorted members of the cast. * Mr. Hoppy is a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

who speaks in ribbits. * The Snails (voiced by assorted members of the cast especially Olivia Fine, Kwesi Boakye, Zachary Gordon and Brittany Chen) are found in one corner of Kai-Lan's backyard just like the ants. * The

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

(voiced by assorted members of the cast especially Olivia Fine, Kwesi Boakye, Zachary Gordon and Brittany Chen) are found in one corner of Kai-Lan's backyard just like the ants. * The Monkey King (voiced by Jack Cygan) is a monkey superhero. * The Fox King (voiced by James Siang'a) is a fox in The Fox Kingdom. * The Foxes are

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

es that live in The Fox Kingdom. * The Bear Queen (voiced by

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has sta ...

) is a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

in The Bear Kingdom. * The Bears are

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is k ...

s that live in The Bear Kingdom.

DVD releases

Awards and nominations

Related media

Video games

The success of Ni Hao, Kai-Lan spawned its own video game series, supported by various gaming consoles and platforms: * ''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: Super Game Day'' (

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

) – released, October 26, 2009 *''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: Super Game Day'' (

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

) – released, October 26, 2009 *''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration'' ( DS) – released, November 5, 2009 The show's success also spawned merchandise from 2007-2014.

References

Notes

External links

*
Official Website
on nickjr.com (

archived An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual o ...

on April 30, 2015) {{Former Nickelodeon original series 2000s American animated television series 2010s American animated television series 2000s Nickelodeon original programming 2010s Nickelodeon original programming 2008 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings 2000s preschool education television series American children's animated television series American preschool education television series Anime-influenced Western animated television series Chinese American television English-language television shows Nick Jr. original programming Nickelodeon original programming Animated television series about children Animated preschool education television series Television shows set in California