The new version of children's TV show, "Dafengche," which aims to inspire children's imagination and creativity, will be shown for the first time on CCTV-1 tonight.
"We want to make better programs for children," said Yu Peixia, the general director of Programs Centre for Adolescent of China Central Television Station (CCTV).
With "Defengche," the director has tried to produce a children's "paradise," by having children involved in many aspects of the program. The station uses children's ideas about what they want to see and it also has children hosting the show.
There are 14 different sections each week which are designed to meet the tastes of 360 million children across the country.
Children from both kindergarten and primary schools will be invited to the program.
Monday's "Toy 1-1", a section for children around the ages of 3-6, will also involve the participation of the children's parents.
"Children are the only ones who know what they really want," said Ju Ping, a popular hostess of children programs in China.
Ju will be one of the hosts of Tuesday's "Naughty Family," along with another cartoon called "Naughty," who will appear as a green ghost with big eyes.
The program will tell stories about wild animals and aims to arouse children's awareness to the importance of nature and environmental protection.
Thursday's "Childhood" is the only section that will focus on adults.
The program will feature celebrities, sports stars and well-known TV hosts, who will reveal their childhood experiences and will answer questions from children. Some famous scientists will also share their experiences.
"Children should know that if you work hard, you have a good chance of being successful later in life," said Zhou Xun, the host.
Saturday's "Creativity" is designed to cultivate the creativity and imagination of primary school students.
For instance, students will be asked to design and build a small bridge using 100 chop sticks. Then the test will be to see how many bricks the bridge can hold before it collapses.
The bridges will be tested by three bridge engineers!
The team that has built the bridge that can support the most bricks will be the winner and will be given medals.
"If any child, sitting in front of the TV can do better than the winner, he or she should call us to challenge the winner," said Dong Hao, the host."
"We just want to encourage children to fully use their imagination and creativity- just like what our program slogan says 'Let the imagination fly,'" Dong said.
Furthermore, the new version of "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck" will give its debut in China everyday in "Dafengche." "We hope that after watching our program, children will appreciate the fun in life, said Ma Zhiyuan, the producer of the program. "They will have a broader thinking and most importantly will enjoy the program and be happy." "Dafengche" will be broadcast from 6:09 pm to 6:49 pm on CCTV-1 every evening.
(China Daily December 10, 2001)
