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China today

How life in China works now, from trains to phones.

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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

34 readings

Article · 3 min audio什么是春运？What is Chunyun, China’s Spring Festival travel rush?Over nine billion trips in forty days. One train ticket everyone wants. And a suitcase that goes home half full and comes back stuffed.HSK 6

Story · 1 min audio我在咖啡店门口How to take a taxi in ChineseOne sentence, practised ten times. Two coffee shops. A driver on the other side of the road.HSK 2

Article · 2 min audio广场舞为什么这么火？Why do Chinese aunties dance in public squares?After dinner, the music starts downstairs. Dozens of aunties, one small speaker, every step in time. Upstairs, not everyone is dancing.HSK 5

Article · 2 min audio双十一是怎么来的？Where did Singles Day come from?Four 1s in a row. A joke among single students in Nanjing that grew into China’s biggest shopping festival.HSK 4

Article · 3 min audio汉字没有字母，中国人怎么打字？How do Chinese people type without an alphabet?Thousands of characters. The same twenty-six keys as English. How Chinese gets typed, looked up and put in order, and why so many people forget how to write it by hand.HSK 6

Story series · Chapter 1 of 10 · 2 min audio欢迎光临The first night shiftA student who can’t sleep takes the night shift at a corner shop called Always Here. Every night at three, while he unloads the van, someone leaves a note at the till and gives him marks. Nobody is ever there.HSK 4

Story · 1 min audio五个中文词My first day in ChinaOne flight. One notebook. Five Chinese words. Will they be enough for her first day in China?HSK 1

Story · 1 min audio奶奶的新手机Grandma’s new phoneA new phone. Ten calls in one day. Then nothing at all.HSK 1

Story · 1 min audio我要去机场I want to go to the airportSeven in the morning. One taxi, one rushed traveller. The driver has one simple question.HSK 1

Story · 1 min audio路口的小商店Shopping in Chinese at the corner shopA corner shop owner who knows what everyone buys. A regular who orders something new. A birthday cake, and a small surprise.HSK 1

Story · 1 min audio地铁里的阿姨How to take the subway in ChinaHis first rush hour. A kind auntie who is going his way at every stop. A friend who isn't at Exit B.HSK 2

Article · 1 min audio只带了现金怎么办？How to pay with your phone in ChinaA 100-yuan note, a watermelon and a shop that can't give change. How China pays with a QR code, and whether cash still works.HSK 2