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19 readings
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
Story · 2 min audio年兽来了The legend of Nian, the Chinese New Year monsterEvery New Year's Eve a monster came out of the sea to eat the village. One night an old man stayed behind, and that is why New Year is red and loud.HSK 3
Article · 1 min audio春晚是什么？What is the Spring Festival Gala (春晚)?Every New Year's Eve at 8 pm, hundreds of millions of TVs show the same thing. Everyone says it's worse than last year, and nobody turns it off.HSK 3
Article · 2 min audio饺子为什么像元宝？Why do Chinese dumplings look like gold ingots?Every New Year’s Eve, one dumpling hides a coin. And every year, somehow, Dad finds it.HSK 4
Story · 2 min audio中秋夜班A Mid-Autumn night at the office: mooncakes for the security guardMid-Autumn night, last one in the office, and the only mooncakes left are the flavour nobody wants. The security guard downstairs disagrees.HSK 4
Article · 2 min audio腊八节是什么节？What is the Laba Festival?Before dawn on a freezing winter morning, Beijing queues outside a temple. For a bowl of porridge.HSK 4
Article · 2 min audio重阳节是什么节？What is the Double Ninth Festival?A seventeen-year-old alone in the capital writes one line about missing home. Thirteen centuries later, China still quotes it every autumn.HSK 4
