Set in a beguiling Hello Kitty visual style,
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
is a welcome addition to Nick Jr.'s preschool cartoon lineup (weekdays, 11 a.m.).
In the same way that
Dora the Explorer
introduces young viewers to Spanish phrases,
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
is a painless primer on the rudiments of spoken Mandarin.
The lessons begin with the title. Ni Hao means "hello" and Kai-Lan is a cheerful, active, bilingual moppet, 53/4 years old. Fittingly, the show debuts on Thursday, the first day of the Chinese New Year.
Kai-Lan lives in a flowery pastel world with Yeye, her gentle and sagacious grandfather with a Mr. Rogers demeanor. Her menagerie of friends includes Rintoo, a kittenish tiger; Tolee, a pensive koala; Hoho, a tiny white monkey; and Lulu, a purple pint-size rhino.
Voiced by Jade-Lianna Gao Jian Peters, an 11-year-old from Milwaukee who was adopted as an infant from Jiang Xi Province, Kai-Lan is a joy. When not lost in fits of giggles, she's singing snatches of songs, leading dances and initiating activities. That's after she tickles the sun awake.
In the manner of
Blues Clues
, she wants to hear from you. In the course of an episode, she will often ask questions and then pause to wait for answers to be shouted at the screen.
Like many kids today, Kai-Lan is a little overscheduled. In addition to having fun with her friends, she also has to give language lessons, teaching us phonetically how to count, and how to pronounce the Mandarin words for common objects and actions.
The Chinese cultural aspects introduced are a little more sketchy. We get dragon-boat races, pagoda architecture and dumplings for dinner. (It's Chinatown, Jake.)
Each episode also contains a behavioral lesson for its young audience. We might learn, for instance, how to cope with anger, the value of sharing or how to rectify mistakes that we've made.
That's a pretty big daily mandate for a little girl to carry out, but Kai-Lan goes about it in an irresistibly cute manner.
Way to go, Kai-Lan!