* AdaptationDisplacement: The show is more well known compared to the ''Downward Doghouse'' shorts it was based on.
* CrossoverShip: For some reason, Kai-Lan is often shipped with Brobee from ''Series/YoGabbaGabba''.
* FandomRivalry: The PeripheryDemographic of ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' has often had bitter reactions towards ''Ni Hao, Kai-Lan''.
* FridgeLogic: The main conflict of the episode "Tolee's Rhyme Time" is that Tolee doesn't know how to rhyme words. However, at the beginning of the episode, he was singing a rhyming song when he was taking a bath. While he may not have realized it was a rhyming song, since the song isn't brought up after that point in the episode, it makes it a little awkward.
* HilariousInHindsight: In the "Princess Kai-Lan" special, Kai-Lan becomes the Princess of Friends, 3 years before [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]] did.
* InformedWrongness: In "Everybody's Hat Parade", Rintoo is shown as being in the wrong for being mad at Hoho copying his hat design, and the lesson of the day is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, Rintoo had every right to be mad at Hoho for stealing his original ideas as, good-intentioned or not, there's a difference between "imitation" and "''plagiarism''".
* {{Moe}}: Kai-Lan is an eternally optimistic and sweet little girl who helps her friends with problems they need to solve.
* TearJerker: The infamous crying scene from "Kai-Lan's Big Surprise" will leave you shaken to your core. After a huge gust of wind ruins a party Kai-Lan and her friends set-up for Ye-Ye, the eternally optimistic Kai-Lan [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness begins sobbing]] for the first (and only) time in the entire show. For any kid watching the show and loving her joyous attitude, the sound her Kai-Lan crying gave many children chills.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Dora the Explorer''. Little ethnic girl and her monkey sidekick teach kids a foreign language while hanging out with other animals.