Will Nick Jr.'s Ni Hao, Kai-Lan Have the Same Success as Dora the Explorer?

A brand new kids cartoon will premiere on the Nick Jr. Television Network to kick off the Chinese New Year on February 7th at 11 AM EST. No wonder Nick, Jr. chose the start of the Chinese New Year for the premiere, since the show stars Kai-Lan, an "almost" 6 year old Chinese-American girl with lots of friends and adventures to share.

The premise of the program bears a striking resemblance to Nick Jr.'s popular Dora the Explorer series. The main character is bi-lingual, and is eager to share her language and culture with viewers. There will be interactive problem solving activities, lessons in life, and lots of culture exchange activities in each episode.

Nick Jr. is not shy illustrating the similarities between the two programs. The official website from the program states: "If Dora and Diego popularized bilingualism, Kai-Lan will weave together being bilingual and bi-cultural. Ni Hao, Kai-Lan reinforces the idea that being bi-cultural and bilingual is being American."

With nearly 3 million immigrant Mandarin Chinese speaking people living in America, and the number growing each year, there is now more focus on Chinese culture and language within the United States than ever before. Within the past few years, many public school systems have been adding Chinese language courses to their curriculum. As reported in the USA Today, Chinese-Mandarin language programs have grown 100% within US schools within the last two years. Chinese language and culture will garner even more attention as China takes center stage of the world's attention when the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics begin.

The show will not only focus on ethnic foods and traditions, but it will also show how family relationships can be quite different in the inter-generational Chinese-American family. YeYe, who is Kai-Lan's grandfather, will be on hand to provide guidance, allowing Kai-Lan to learn that there are always consequences for her or her friends actions. He will be the link between the new western world that Kai-Lan is growing up in, and the tried and true traditions and customs that prevail in China.

There will be other characters in the program, such as HoHo the monkey, Tolee the koala, and Rhintoo the tiger.

The program has been in development for nearly four years by the Nick, Jr. animation team, and the creator of the show, Karen Chau. They will relay on many of the same formulas and concepts that made Blues Clues, and Dora the Explorer successful. With strong kid oriented marketing, proven concepts of children's interactive programming, and excellent timing, the stars should be in perfect alignment for the program to be another success for Nick, Jr. Watch for Kai-Lan dolls and games to be popping up all over toy store shelves this summer.