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Chinese culture

The customs behind everyday Chinese life, explained.

Choose a levelRead at your level

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

73 readings

Article · 1 min audio月饼里面有什么？What are mooncakes?A red box of little round cakes, a festival under the full moon, and an egg where you least expect one.HSK 2

Article · 1 min audio端午节：龙舟和粽子What is the Dragon Boat Festival?Boats with dragon heads, a poet in a river two thousand years ago, and the one question about rice dumplings that starts arguments.HSK 2

Article · 1 min audio元宵节：看灯、猜谜语What is the Lantern Festival?Chinese New Year isn't over until the fifteenth night. Come and see the lanterns, eat something round, and try to solve the riddle before we tell you.HSK 2

Story · 2 min audio新郎进不了门Chinese wedding traditions: the door gamesThe groom has the red envelopes and every answer. What he doesn't have is the bride's shoes, and the clock is ticking.HSK 2

Article · 1 min audio生日为什么吃长寿面？Why do Chinese people eat noodles on birthdays?You expect a birthday cake. You get a bowl of noodles, an egg, and a friend watching to make sure you don't bite a single strand in two.HSK 2

Story · 2 min audio奶奶的麻将桌How to play mahjong: grandma's tableShe has never touched a mahjong tile. Grandma teaches her in one minute, she wins the first hand, and she keeps winning. Then she sees grandma's tiles.HSK 2

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

Article · 2 min audio家族群里都有什么？Chinese family WeChat groups: red packets, good-morning pictures and health rumoursSix thirty in the morning, and the family group sends you a glittering lotus that says “Good morning!” What else goes on in China's family chats?HSK 5

Article · 2 min audio胡同是什么？What is a Beijing hutong?Your map app tells you to turn into a hutong, and the lane is barely wide enough for a bike. Where did these alleys, and their strange name, come from?HSK 6

Article · 2 min audio二十四节气是什么？What are the 24 solar terms?The Beijing Winter Olympics opened with a 24-second countdown, one second for each solar term. What are these 24 named days, and why do they follow the sun?HSK 6

Article · 2 min audio四大发明是谁说的？Who named the Four Great Inventions of China?Every Chinese child can name the four great inventions. The idea began with an Englishman who praised three of them without knowing where they came from.HSK 6