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Every reading sits at the level where most of its words are taught
35 readings
Story · 2 min audio塞翁失马The old man who lost his horseA horse runs off. The neighbours call it bad luck. The old man is not so sure.HSK 5
Story · 4 min audio画皮Painted SkinA runaway beauty at dawn. A Taoist’s warning. And through the window, a ghost painting a human skin.
Story · 1 min audio十二生肖的故事The Great Race: the Chinese zodiac storyTwelve places. One wide river. And a cat who asked a friend to wake it up.HSK 3
Story · 1 min audio守株待兔Waiting for a rabbit by the tree stumpA rabbit runs into a tree stump. A farmer gets a free dinner. Then he sits down to wait for the next one.HSK 3
Story · 2 min audio嫦娥奔月The legend of Chang’eTen suns in the sky. One elixir. And the woman China looks for on the moon every Mid-Autumn.HSK 5
Story · 4 min audio三打白骨精Sun Wukong and the White Bone DemonA girl bringing lunch. A weeping old woman. An old man at prayer. Wukong sees the same demon every time, and his master sees a murderer.
Story · 1 min audio画蛇添足Drawing legs on a snakeOne cup of wine. A race to draw a snake. The fastest man has time to spare.HSK 3
Story · 3 min audio牛郎织女The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl: the story behind QixiA cowherd with nothing but an old ox. A weaver girl from heaven. A river of stars between them, and one night a year to cross it.HSK 4
Story · 3 min audio木兰从军The real story of MulanA girl at her loom. Her father’s name on every army list. Twelve years at war, and no one guesses.HSK 5
Story · 3 min audio空城计The Empty Fort Strategy: Zhuge Liang's famous bluffTwo and a half thousand soldiers. A hundred and fifty thousand at the gate. Zhuge Liang opens the doors and starts to play music.HSK 5
Story · 3 min audio草船借箭Borrowing arrows with straw boatsMake 100,000 arrows in ten days, or die. Zhuge Liang says three days will do, then does nothing for two.HSK 5
Story · 3 min audio庄周梦蝶Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream, and what it meansZhuangzi dreams he is a butterfly, wakes up, and cannot say which of them was dreaming. Two thousand years on, nobody has settled it.HSK 6
