Zhima Jie

Zhima Jie (芝麻街) is the Chinese co-production of Sesame Street. The show was produced from 1998 to 2001, for a total run of 130 half-hour episodes. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive it for the 2004 season, however it returned in 2010 as Zhima Jie: Da Niao Kan Shijie (Sesame Street: Big Bird Looks at the World). The program focused on teaching basic skills, such as literacy, numeracy, and an appreciation of the arts.

Prior to the co-production, Sesame Street's 12th season had been dubbed into Mandarin in 1981 and distributed through CCTV.

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Development and Curriculum

The development of Zhima Jie was based on China's experts in child development, education, and media to create the show to better educated the young children in China. Through the adviser's group discussion and seminar, the China experts came up with five objectives that they want to address in the show.

1. Symbolic representation - goals related to literacy, such as learning Chinese characters, and numeracy, such as counting and identifying geometric forms.

2. Cognitive organization - skills such as auditory and visual discrimination and classifying quantity and shapes

3. The child's world - goals such as identifying body parts, learning about emotions, and problem solving

4. Family and society - goals pertaining to family structures, family activities, social relationships, and the child's environment

5. Aesthetics and arts - the senses, artistic expression, and creativity. A study conducted by Jin Li and Jimei Li (published in Early Education & Development, Vol. 13, No. 4, October 2002, pps. 379-394) "found that Zhima Jie's purpose to reach Chinese preschool children through television 'corresponded to their needs and desires for learning. The program's educational goals met overwhelming love and appreciation from those children studied. One reason for this impact, they speculate, is the fact that "Zhima Jie's goals were a product of Chinese educators' thoughtful design, not a transplantation of US Sesame Street materials."[2]

Cooper Wright, a senior producer in CTW's international television group, said about the show, "It's not an American import. We feel it's very important that these countries, if they can, produce their own `Sesame Street' that's representative of their own culture. Kids are going to learn more if they relate to the characters as opposed to them being foreign characters."[3]

Muppets

   * Da Niao, an identical cousin of Big Bird, the first replica of the original, according to The Wisdom of Big Bird by American Big Bird Muppeteer Caroll Spinney. 

   * Hu Hu Zhu is an ageless, furry pig who is quite proud of his blue fur. He's also very proud of the long line of illustrious artistic blue pigs, which he is descended. 

   * Xiao Mei Zi ("Little Plum") is a bright red monster who is curious and level-headed. She also snores very loudly! 

Humans

   * Old Lady Wang, a Tai-Chi practitioner and music lover who also owns the noodle shop and adjacent phone room. 

   * Uncle Tian operates a bicycle repair shop. 

Zhima Jie: Da Niao Kan Shijie

Sesame Street's Big Bird Looks at the World (芝麻街: 大鸟看世界, Zhima Jie: Da Niao Kan Shijie) is a Chinese Sesame Street co-production which premiered on the Ha Ha Channel on December 22, 2010. The fifty-two episode 11-minute series features features Big Bird and Elmo, and introduces a new character, a tiger named Lily, who loves martial arts and learning to read. It is a follow-up to China's previous Sesame Street co-production Zhima Jie.

The series will promote scientific discovery and the characters will try to search answers to questions such as: "Why do bird fly?" or "Why are polar bears white?" The series was a successful in China with 400,000 preschoolers and nearly one million moms with young children watching in the first two months. The show won the 2011 Hugo award for its 'innovative and outstanding' contribution to the world of television. FormatEdit Before each episodes, there are segments that features Elmo and some children engaging in a science-based craft activity that viewers can do at home. Science-based crafts include creating a bird feeder from a juice carton, making a rain stick, and writing a secret message with lemon juice. These segments are to encouraged children and parents to engage in scientific inquiry and exploration in their everyday lives.

Each episode is triggered by a question that the Muppet characters have when they notice something about the world around them. Within each episode, two live-action films provide in-depth information and real-world visuals. One of these live action films features a hands-on activity that relates to the question raised. A second live action film presents additional information and insight on the topic at hand. These segments are designed to extend the science knowledge and to bring it to life.[1]

At the end of each episode, there is a song that the Muppet characters and children sing relating to the topic of the episode.

Books

• Sesame Street School Readiness (11 titles)
• Sesame Street Thinking Child (6 titles)
• Sesame Street Learning Environment (4 titles)