Kai-Lan's Trip to China, alternately known as Kai-Lan's Great Trip to China! is the final episode of Season 1, both in airing and production order, and the first double-length episode of Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. In this episode, Kai-Lan and everyone else go to China to visit their great aunt while being invited to meet a baby panda.
Kai-Lan and her friends get a video call from her great aunt, Gu Nai Nai, where she tells her that she wants them to come over to China and meet a new baby panda. Ye-Ye states that they're going to take an airplane to get to China, from the United States to China. Arriving at the airport, everyone then boards the plane for China. When they meet Gu Nai Nai at the airport, introductions from the viewer, Rintoo, Tolee & Hoho are done.
Everyone then boards a bus, where they stop to eat noodles, Kai-Lan encourages them to try new things; "when you're scared of something new, here's what you can do; just try it, try it, try it." Rintoo and Hoho try the noodles, and then they continue onward, where nextup Gu Nai Nai shows her home, where they wear new slippers in their home, although Tolee isn't comfortable of wearing different slippers than his panda slippers which prompts Kai-Lan encourages him to try new things. Kai-Lan shows Gu Nai Nai her heartbox, where she brings a dandelion from home. Gu Nai Nai then says that the necklace she was wearing, was given to her when she was little. Everyone then goes through a bamboo forest to search for the pandas, where they then appear out of the bamboos, Gu Nai Nai tells everyone to climb, where they find a village of pandas. The baby panda then appears towards Kai-Lan, who then runs towards the treehouse toward her.
Inside the treehouse, where they see the baby panda's mother. The mother states that he doesn't have a name yet, where they plan to have a naming party for him. For the party, the group aims to find presents for the baby panda, where they start via heading to the city. Kai-Lan and her animal friends visit a blanket ship, where the baby panda eats watermelon, so they then get a watermelon blanket for him. The next thing that they need to get are some baby tiger shoes, where they must board a boat to get to a shoe shop and back. However, the baby panda suddenly becomes scared of the boat. Kai-Lan says that the panda is afraid to get on the boat because he's never been on a boat before.
Rintoo, Hoho, and Tolee state that they were scared about trying new things before, where they all sing to the baby panda to try it, because you might like it. The baby panda then talks, stating he wants to try it. Everyone then boards the ship, and then they go to the island where they go to the shoe shop to get some tiger shoes for the baby panda. They watch a Chinese opera perform with fans and a mask that changes face and come up with getting a happy face mask for the baby panda. Kai-Lan then comes up with the final gift for the baby panda; her heart box, where she had been putting the presents inside the whole time.
Returning to mainland China, they return to the panda village just in time for the name party, Kai-Lan then gives the mother panda her heart box, where they give the baby panda the presents; blanket, tiger shoes, the happy mask, and Kai-Lan's heart box. The mother panda comes up with Xīao Xī Guā, which means little watermelon in Chinese. The episode ends with drums, fireworks, and singing.
Words in Chinese Mandarin[]
姑奶奶gū nǎi nai - great aunt
我叫Wǒ jiào - My name is...
西瓜xī guā - watermelon
小xīao - little
开心kāi xīn - happy
姐姐jiě jie - big sister
妹妹mèi mei - little sister
哥哥gē ge - big brother
虎头鞋hǔ tóu xié - tiger shoes
又一村yòu yī cūn - another village
商店shāngdiàn - store
福fú - blessing
Quotes[]
Kai-Lan: Look at all the sun fuzzies. Ooh, let's see where they're going. 跟我來.
Rintoo: Ooh. Ooh. That's something else we could give the baby panda for a present. 虎头鞋.
Gu Nai Nai: He's doing a show called 變臉.
Kai-Lan: The mask changed again. What feeling is it? Happy! Yeah! 开心.
Xiao Xi Gua: 謝謝, Hoho 哥哥.
Hoho: Ye-Ye, why did the baby panda call me "Hoho 哥哥?"
Ye-Ye: In China, sometimes we call a new friend our brother. So calling you "哥哥" is his way of calling you his big brother.
Gu Nai Nai: This shows that we're all part of one big family. 我們鬥士一家人.
Rintoo: These tiger shoes are for you, baby panda. Roar!
Xiao Xi Gua: 謝謝, Rintoo 哥哥.
Tolee: I've always wanted to meet a panda, and today I met a whole lot of them. That made me really happy. So we got you a present that will make you happy, baby panda.
Xiao Xi Gua: 謝謝, Tolee 哥哥.
Kai-Lan: Baby panda, we have one more present for you. This heart box is for things that make your heart feel super happy. We want you to have it so you always remember our day together.
Xiao Xi Gua: 謝謝, Kai-Lan 姐姐.
Mommy Panda: It's time to give the baby panda his name.
Hoho: Eee! Here it comes!
Mommy Panda: The baby panda's name is... 小西瓜. And it means "Little Watermelon."
Xiao Xi Gua: 我叫小西瓜.
Ye-Ye: Hooray for 小西瓜, the baby panda!
Songs[]
We're going to China
Trivia[]
This is the first episode for the following.
This is the first Ni Hao Kai-Lan double-length episode.
This is the first and only episode where a human character other than Kai-Lan or Ye-Ye appear in this episode, and the only appearance of Gu Nai Nai. Not counting the unnamed incidental characters when they arrive in China, there are a total of three human characters in the series so far.
The first and only episode where Hoho's home is seen, but only from the inside. It is unknown where it is located.
The first episode to make use of 3D models. In this case, the airplane was in 3D.
The first and only episode where the "We Got It" song occurs before "We Gotta Gotta Try to Find the Reason Why", and the first time a solution was sung without starting with "We Got It". Plus, this is the first episode where "We Gotta Gotta Try to Find the Reason Why" does not have a flashback, and "We Got It" being sung by everyone, not just Kai-Lan for the first time.
The first and only episode where Kai-Lan's past is referenced.
The original airing of this episode was split into two parts, with the first part ending with Hoho asking where the baby panda was. Internationally, double-length episodes were oftentimes split into 2 parts; being named Part 1 and Part 2 where Part 1 and Part 2 would be separate from each other.
The second part also included a removed scene at the start, which involved Kai-Lan recapping the events of the first part and asking the viewer to help her find the baby panda.
The original English version of this scene is lost as of 2024, while a few foreign versions have been found.
After the lesson was sung once, Kai-Lan immediately led everyone into “Sing with us”.
After “I Got It (It’s Really, Really True)”, the lesson wasn’t sung again.
Despite being part of Season 1, this episode was produced during Season 2, as the production number was 207a-b, putting in between Kai-Lan's Big Surprise and Rintoo Makes a Splash in terms of production order, though the former aired back in May 15, 2009, and the last new episode to air before Kai-Lan's Trip to China was The Hula Duck Dance Party, which aired on May 28, 2010.
Also, this is really the final episode of Season 1 in production order.
Since this special was produced during Season 2, this is the only episode where "We Gotta Gotta Try to Find the Reason Why" is sung instead "Let's Find Out Why", which has been used since the beginning of Season 2.
The device that Kai-Lan talks to Gu Nai Nai through is a reference to video calls, such as FaceTime for example.
Remarkably, this episode was released before FaceTime was created.
This episode revealed that the series takes place in California, if taking in mind where the plane starts on the map.
The part where they wear orange slippers in Gu Nai Nai's home is a reference to the tradition where most Asian homes would have people wearing different footwear inside.
Bian lian is a Chinese performance revolving around masks that change faces.
The first part of this episode is the last episode segment of Ni Hao Kai Lan to be aired regularly on Treehouse TV, airing on September 2, 2017, at 3:20am EST, while the series continues airing on Treehouse TV for rare/special airings until February 12, 2021.
Goofs/Errors[]
Naked baby panda
When Kai-Lan says that they have to find a way to help the baby panda, the baby panda's overalls are missing.
The baby panda should not have been black and white. In real life, baby pandas are tiny and pink.
While they are on the bus, Kai-Lan spots two sisters playing together in their front yard. In China in real life, most families only have one child, hence the one child law in China.
