Big Bird in China is a 1983 television special based on the children's television series Sesame Street produced by Children's Television Workshop and China Central Television. It was originally broadcast on May 29, 1983, on NBC. Big Bird, Barkley and Little Xiao Fu travel through China to find Feng Huang, the Phoenix bird. The production was released on VHS from Random House Home Video in 1987, and on VHS and DVD from Sony Wonder on February 10, 2004. Although the voice of Telly Monster was Brian Muehl, Martin P. Robinson re-dubbed Telly's lines for the 2004 VHS and DVD releases when Big Bird goes to China. Also, it lacks about a minute of the original production, in which Big Bird is looking for someone who speaks "American", though it can be seen on early VHS releases. This television special had a sequel known as Big Bird in Japan. Synopsis The special starts in New York City's Chinatown, Manhattan, where Big Bird peeks at an old scroll with a picture of a beautiful phoenix on it. The shopkeeper explains that the phoenix is magical and lives in China. To find the phoenix, Big Bird will first have to find the four places pictured on the scroll and he exclaims, "Well, what a good thing it would be if a great big American bird went to meet that beautiful Chinese bird! I mean, she could tell me everything about China, and then I could come home and tell everybody here!" He sets out with Barkley on a boat and makes it to China. Highlights include Chinese landmarks like the Great Wall of China and Beijing, Big Bird learning the "little duckling dance", and a song to teach Chinese words. A character called the Monkey King helps Big Bird and Xiao Fu on their quest. Meanwhile, Oscar the Grouch decides to try to dig his way to China from his trash can, but when he gets to China, he finds it boring and goes straight home. As the credits roll, Big Bird and Barkley walk back in Chinatown, Manhattan, and Xiao Fu giggles one last time. Origins In his memoir, Caroll Spinney (the puppeteer who plays Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch) notes that he was inspired to pitch the special to Children's Television Workshop after visiting China on a tour with Bob Hope. This first trip was to film the Bob Hope