Ah, but that's only half the story. Yes, Big Bird in China was a TV special quickly followed by Big Bird in Japan. The central plot of the Chinese TV special is that Big Bird roller skates into a Chinese artifacts shop at the beginning of the special. The curator woman tells Big Bird about the legend of the Phoenix and the Monkey King and how the Phoenix returned the sun to its rightful place. She gives him a map/document with riddles to different Chinese landmarks to try to find the Phoenix.
Here's a good laugh for you: Grover (after the song performed on Sesame Street itself): "I thought Phoenix was in Arizona."
Big Bird takes Barkley with him to China and meets an English-speaking Chinese boy who helps them solve the riddles and find the landmarks, while the Monkey King is performing silly magic teleportation tricks behind their backs. Eventually, our explorers reach the tree where the Phoenix lives and Big Bird gets to ask it one question or request. He asks her to sing the song she sang that moved the Monkey King to release the sun. I remember this TV special lucidly and the wonderful way that the Phoenix's spirit was animated over the tree she resided within before my vision deteriorated to its current half-visual retentive state. Hopes this helps clear up any confusion.
BTW: Call Manda D Dot, but not Dotty cause she'll have to kill you!