Ni Hao, Kai-Lan


Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is an American-Canadian flash-animated interactive children's television series that premiered in Canadian channel Treehouse on November 5, 2007, and eventually on Nick Jr. in the United States on February 7, 2008. It also premiered on the Canadian television channel Télé-Québec.
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is based on childhood memories of the show's creator, Karen Chau, when she grew up in a bicultural 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.

Premise

The series follows the adventures of Kai-Lan and her group of talking anthropomorphic animal companions. The group consists of Kai-Lan, a seven-year old Chinese-American girl; Rintoo, the yellow tiger; Tolee, the gray koala; Lulu, the pink rhino; and Hoho, the small white monkey. 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 relating to riddles, playing games, and working together. Common rituals may involve Kai-Lan resolving temper tantrums from her friends Rintoo, Tolee or Hoho when they misbehave. To help Rintoo, Tolee and Hoho, Kai-Lan shows them and the audience why they are having temper tantrums. Usually, once Rintoo, Tolee and Hoho discover that their actions are wrong, they apologize and promise to work together better. The audience is usually presented 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, 11 minutes of interactivity, a target word that is repeated multiple times, a few words of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary, and before saying goodbye, 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 Mandarin Chinese language, along with elements of Chinese culture and values, and intergenerational families.

Episodes

Major characters

Kai-Lan

Kai-Lan is a playful, adventurous young girl with a big heart. She has black hair that she wears in two space buns with red flowers. The character is often shown wearing a blue t-shirt, orange shorts, and red sneakers. She wears a necklace with a green jade pendant around her neck in every episode. Kai-Lan tries to help all of the characters she meets. She wants to help her friends when she sees that they are not happy or acting out in temper tantrums, even when her friends refuse to compromise, she fails to display actual anger. She gives others a chance to change their minds and do the right thing. Kai-Lan values her family and she is very fond of her friends: Rintoo, Tolee, Lulu, and Hoho. Kai-Lan speaks both English and Mandarin Chinese. She loves to share her language, her culture, and her playtime with her animal friends and the viewers at home. Kai-Lan is a natural leader, but she is also thoughtful and always ready to help someone in need. Her favorite animal is a dinosaur. In her music group, she plays the tambourine.

Rintoo

Rintoo is a rambunctious and energetic 5-year-old young tiger with a frontal lisp who often acts before he thinks. He often fails to see when he is having a temper tantrum and needs his friends to subtly guide him towards learning to act with more manners. Rintoo enjoys playing sports and he is an avid fan of dragons and racecars. Rintoo hates losing at anything and will often do a tiger roar when he feels angry that he lost. However, he is always willing to correct his behavior and work better with his friends. Rintoo, along with Hoho, is often seen as the character who get into trouble. He plays the xylophone in Kai-Lan's music group.

Tolee

Tolee is a gray 5-year-old koala who loves pandas and eating fruit, especially apples, bananas, and pineapples. He is intelligent, sensitive, and always thinks before he acts; however, Tolee often overthinks and worries too much. He dislikes feeling left out of the group, such as when his friends are playing a game where they need to pair up and everyone is paired up before he is. Tolee is Rintoo's foil. Whereas Rintoo is talkative and acts before he thinks, Tolee is thoughtful and will deeply consider his actions before making a decision. When Tolee feels sad or has his feelings hurt, he starts to cry, but his friends can always cheer him up. Tolee loves playing with his friends. Kai-Lan and her friends can always rely on him for good ideas. Tolee also has a stuffed panda that he affectionately named Pandy. Tolee is the vocalist in Kai-Lan's music group.

Lulu

Lulu is a sweet and intelligent 6-year-old pink rhinoceros. Lulu has a red balloon tied around her horn that helps her fly in the sky. She likes to help her friends, using her red balloon to fly to their aid when they call her name. Lulu gives others a chance to try their hands at tasks even when she herself might have an easier time with them. Lulu values all of the characters she meets and is always friendly and willing to help. She demonstrates compassion and diplomacy, and will often be the first to compromise and work out a resolution among her friends. Lulu enjoys dressing up like a princess, having tea parties, and dancing to disco music. She tries to introduce her traditions and customs subtly and without compulsion to those who are not familiar with them. Lulu lives in a floating castle in the sky. Lulu is also a musician, skilled at playing the piano and singing. She's indicated to be best friends with Kai-Lan. Her instrument in Kai-Lan's music group is the keyboard, and her favorite fruit is the lychee.

Hoho

Hoho is an energetic white 3-year-old monkey and is the youngest of Kai-Lan's friends. When he participates in activities, he often goes first. He is full of energy and enjoys being the center of attention. He is a picky eater and can be stubborn towards change such as when his friends want to play a different game. Despite his initial difficulties towards accepting new foods and games, Hoho often to his surprise finds that he loves the thing that he was reluctant to try. Whenever he jumps a springing sound can be heard. He can often be found jumping on his friends' heads or playing his turntables as the DJ in Kai-Lan's music group. Aside from his turntables and his friends, Hoho loves bananas.

Ye-Ye

Ye-Ye is Kai-lan's playful, thoughtful, and caring grandfather. He was born in Hong Kong and lovingly passes on his exciting traditions to his granddaughter. He provides Kai-lan with gentle guidance, leading her to find her own answers, at her own pace. He can play the tuba, and enjoys picking apples and making dumplings for Kai-lan and all her animal friends.

Mr. Sun

At the start of almost every episode, Kai-Lan wakes up Mr. Sun so she can start her day. With the help of the viewer, Mr. Sun rises and showers down smiling sun fuzzies to Kai-Lan and she gets tickled by them. He also knows how to play the trumpet, so Kai-Lan and the ladybugs join him as a little music group at the beginning of Tolee's Rhyme Time and later joins Kai-Lan and her friends in the music show.

The Ants

In one corner of Kai-Lan's backyard is a teeming mini-metropolis of ants called Ant City. The ants serve very important roles in the community: they deliver mail, they build things, and they love to play with Kai-Lan and her friends. San San is their leader along with his two right-hand ants, Bubu and Fufu.
San San is voiced by Zachary Gordon, Bubu is voiced by Luke Manriquez, and Fufu is voiced by Kyla Rae Kowalewski.

Other, grown-up, and minor characters

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: