One thing that I vividly remember from my growing up in China was watching this kids cartoon about student sheep living on the grassland who try to run away from a dumb hungry wolf who wants to eat them called 喜羊羊与灰太狼 (XiYangYangYuHuiTaiLang), the English name being The Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.
I feel like watching the show is almost a universal experience for Chinese children around our age, especially because it was so popular. To be honest, my very lacking short summary doesn’t do the show justice at all. I swear I made it sound a lot lamer and maybe more violent than it actually is but even now, I sometimes click on an episode or two to watch just for the fun of it. I would definitely rate the show number 1 on my childhood shows list because even though there were also big competitors like XiongChuMuo (Boonie Bears) or XiYouJi (Journey to the West), XiYangYang has a very special place in my heart.
My memories of the show include sprinting up the stairs of my grandparents’ old house at 3-4 years old, candy or snack in hand, and plopping down on the bed or on this old woven wood chair just so that I could catch the show while it was being played on cable. The only days I could catch it were usually on the weekends, when I didn’t have kindergarten at the local school.
Watching XiYangYang as a child would bring me extreme amounts of joy. The world around me would melt away and all of my focus would be on the small TV in the room, the speakers blaring the theme song so familiar to me that it was engraved in my brain. My grandma would occasionally come sit with me and watch along, bringing me cut up fruit or fresh Bingtanghulu from when she left the village to go to town. My sister and dad would also watch with me when they came to visit during summer break, making commentary and much to my dismay, stealing my snacks.
When I moved back to America, I found that I could no longer find the show on cable and substituted the show for a DVD called Salad English, which helped me learn English, and the PBS Kids network that showed on cable in our old house up in Wisconsin. It was never the same though and I was always pestering my dad to find DVDs for XiYangYang or help me find videos online, which I eventually did.
I never really knew why I had such an attachment to this show, even after being here in America for so long. Obviously the main reason was because it kept me entertained as a child and made me laugh, but now that I think about it from my current point of view, I guess it’s because it reminds me of a time where I could afford to be carefree and also brings a sense of nostalgia for the life I had growing up in the old house in the village. Now, watching the show reminds me of my grandparents and how much I miss seeing them. With everything happening in the past few years, I haven’t gotten a chance to go back and visit everyone in quite a long time. Watching the cartoon is, in a strange way, my way of trying to keep a connection with how it felt to be back there.
Either way, the show brings back parts of the best moments of my life, and while it’s specifically catered to children, I find that it’s still strangely entertaining to me even now.
Jessica, I think it’s so cool that you vividly remember this show and your life from when you were 3-4 years old. I feel like I can’t really remember an entire prolonged moment from my early youth but short snippets instead. I wonder how our brains choose what to remember and what to forget. I also feel like my brain would probably remember things I did habitually when I was younger and fill in any gaps in my memory with this info, regardless if it was true or not. I really resonate with your enjoyment of things from your youth as the nostalgia works in direct contrast to the stress and responsibilities that pile on as you grow older. It is incredibly comforting to think of these moments and view them as a time where you were experiencing pure joy. I remember watching the old Care Bears tv show in my parent’s bedroom, jumping up and down on the four-postered bed with my eyes focused on the slightly grainy images. These types of memories hold a special place in someone’s mind as they can provide safety from what scares them from their current lives. There were times when I was younger where I would wish to go back to these moments and remain there forever. I would tell myself that the only thing stopping me is that I would not want to do all that schoolwork all over again (beside the fact that time travel is impossible). But I think now that I’ve grown older there’s more I look forward to experiencing in adulthood than I miss from my childhood. But that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to watching some early 2000s-2010s TV shows as a means to cherish my memories and the comfort they bring.
Jessica, super heartwarming and nostalgic post! The narrative element of your blog like when you talked about your grandparent’s house was so cute. From the picture you put of the show, it looks super cute too. I feel the same nostalgia for computer games I played, or watched my sister play. Remembering them is kind of like a fever dream, but also reminds me, like you, of a more carefree time. If I had to pick a show, though, I would pick this crazy show called Chowder that probably makes no sense now but was so funny back then. It was also interesting to hear about how it’s one of your connections to China because I’ve literally lived in one place my entire life and have never experienced that type of nostalgia. I wish I was exposed to media other than mainstream American media when I was a kid because I know I would have liked it. Keep embracing things from your childhood because getting old sucks!!
Hi Jessica! I would also say this show is one of the top contenders for the Chinese cartoons I’ve watched since I was younger. This show is a top reason I’m slightly fond of sheep. Reading your blog helped me get on a memory train as I haven’t even touched this series for years, but yet the intro song is something I can hear so clearly in my head no matter how annoying it is. Watching this when I was younger compared to now makes me want to rewatch it just to view it through an older lens. Back then I didn’t realize how abusive the wolf lady was and I thought the hubby wolf deserved it because of how annoying he was but honestly all the sheep weren’t too kind. I rather enjoyed it and also have a weird sort of attachment. For me, I think it was because I watched this in an environment where no English was spoken and we would just sit and watch. Maybe it was the fact that Chinese cartoons also have this type of unhinged aspect compared to the American cartoons like Paw Patrol catered to kids of the same age.