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Every reading sits at the level where most of its words are taught
73 readings
Article · 3 min audio苏东坡：诗人和吃货Su Dongpo, poet and cook: the story behind Dongpo porkDongpo pork is named after a poet. He was jailed, sent ever further from the capital, and cooked his way through every exile.HSK 6
Article · 2 min audio敦煌莫高窟是什么？What are the Dunhuang caves?In 1900 a caretaker sweeping sand found a crack in a cave wall, and behind it fifty thousand manuscripts sealed for nine centuries. Welcome to the Mogao caves.HSK 6
Article · 2 min audio紫禁城为什么叫紫禁城？Why is it called the Forbidden City?Ask for the Forbidden City in Beijing and people say, “You mean 故宫?” The purple in its Chinese name is not the walls but a star.HSK 6
Story · 2 min audio女娲补天Nüwa mends the skyA lonely goddess makes the first people out of mud. Then a furious god breaks the pillar that holds up the sky.HSK 4
Story · 2 min audio盘古开天Pangu separates the sky and the earthA giant sleeps inside an egg for eighteen thousand years. When he wakes up, he has to hold the sky up himself.HSK 4
Story · 2 min audio后羿射日Hou Yi shoots the nine sunsTen suns take turns in the sky, one a day, until they get bored and all come out at once. The earth starts to burn.HSK 4
Story · 3 min audio梁山伯与祝英台The Butterfly LoversA girl dresses as a boy to go to school. Her best friend shares her desk for three years and never guesses.HSK 4
Article · 2 min audio什么是“面子”？What is face (mianzi) in Chinese culture?Two friends almost come to blows over who pays the bill. What they are really fighting over is face.HSK 4
Article · 2 min audio“关系”是什么意思？What does guanxi mean?No appointments left with the famous doctor. Then a colleague mentions her friend’s cousin.HSK 4
Story · 1 min audio八种笔画Chinese calligraphy for beginnersAnna wants to write one 福 for Spring Festival. Her calligraphy teacher gives her a different character, and only that one, for three weeks.HSK 2
Story · 1 min audio七十五岁的同学The kung fu class story: the oldest studentOur kung fu class has eleven children and one new student. He is seventy-five, and he is the slowest of us all.HSK 2
Story · 1 min audio一米长的茶壶At a Chinese tea house: the metre-long teapotIn a Chengdu tea house, the waiter pours from a teapot with a spout a metre long. Mark thinks he's standing much too far away, and decides to help.HSK 2
