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Original Mandarin Stories

Read the complete original story and its chapters.

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Every reading sits at the level where most of its words are taught

HSK 167 readings HSK 232 readings HSK 328 readings HSK 435 readings HSK 519 readings HSK 620 readings

131 readings

Story · 2 min audio一片草叶Lu Ban and the saw: a Chinese legendChina's greatest carpenter has a palace to build and not enough time to cut the trees. Then a blade of grass cuts his hand.HSK 4

Story · 2 min audio牛的舌头Judge Bao and the case of the cut ox tongueSomeone has cut out a farmer's ox's tongue. Judge Bao Zheng gives the strangest advice: go home and kill the ox.HSK 5

Story · 2 min audio1985年的信The letter from grandpa: a Chinese short storyGrandma gets a letter from Grandpa, written in 1985 and lost in the post ever since. It asks her one question, and she answered it forty years ago without knowing.HSK 4

Story · 3 min audio陈老师的新名单The retired teacher: a Chinese short storyAfter thirty-eight years in the classroom, Teacher Chen wakes on her first day of retirement with nothing to do. Then her old students start turning up everywhere.HSK 4

Story · 2 min audio伯乐和千里马Bole and the thousand-li horse (伯乐相马)An old horse hauls a salt cart up a mountain road until a stranger climbs down, weeps, and covers it with his own coat. The horse answers with a cry that reaches the sky.HSK 6

Story · 2 min audio最后一单A day in the life of a delivery riderLunch rush, broken lifts, rain. Then, at nine at night, one last order for dumplings, and the address is his own home.HSK 4

Story · 2 min audio电梯里的四十分钟Stuck in the lift with the neighbourTwo years of silent lift rides. Then the lift stops dead at the twelfth floor, and the old man from upstairs asks: “The one who plays the piano at night, is that you?”HSK 4

Story · 2 min audio照片上的秀兰An old photo and a family secretAn old photo of Grandpa with a girl called Xiulan, Grandma's sister. Mum says never to mention it. Then Grandma sees the photo and laughs until she cries.HSK 4

Story · 2 min audio爷爷的收音机Grandpa's radioGrandpa's nine o'clock radio show goes silent for good. So his grandson secretly brings it back. Grandpa is delighted, and he isn't fooled for a minute.HSK 4

Story · 1 min audio狐假虎威The fox and the tiger: borrowing a tiger’s powerA tiger catches a fox for lunch. The fox has one trick left: take a walk together and see who the animals run from.HSK 3

Story · 2 min audio井底之蛙The frog in the well: the frog who had never seen the seaA frog thinks its broken old well is the best place in the world. Then a sea turtle tries to come in for a visit.HSK 3

Story · 1 min audio孔融让梨Kong Rong and the pears: the boy who took the smallest oneSeven brothers, one plate of pears. The four-year-old reaches past all the big ones.HSK 3