Zhima Jie () 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. It was filmed in Shanghai and aired on Shanghai Television.
History
Before the co-production, Sesame Street's 12th season had been dubbed into Mandarin in 1981 and distributed through China Central Television.
1998 version
Pre-production on the show was headed in part by a team of eighteen Chinese child education specialists, led by Xie Xide. In 1996 some of the Shanghai Television producers also traveled to New York to meet and work with Sesame Workshop staff. Kevin Clash ran the auditions and training for the production's puppeteers.
Unlike other international co-productions, Zhima Jie would have its own version of Big Bird, Da Niao, rather than a new full-body mascot unique to their iteration. This was due to Big Bird's already existing popularity in China. Caroll Spinney, who originated the character on the American production, had final say on who would play the character. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive it for the 2004 season.
2010 version
As with the 1998 version, the 2010 version filmed original segments in Shanghai.
It returned in December 2010 as Zhima Jie: Da Niao Kan Shijie (芝麻街: 大鸟看世界, Sesame Street: Big Bird Looks at the World).
Characters
1998
- Xiao Mei Zi (小梅子), Little Plum, a red Elmo-like monster who is 3 years old and enjoys reading books and listening to stories. She was the equivalent of Elmo in this series. Elmo (proper) is introduced for the 2010 series.
The 1998 production had compassion as one of the primary themes for the first season.