Learn Chinese with Beginner Stories

During our holiday, we all like to make some plans for our holiday. Some people have full schedules, but it's difficult to implement them. Some people have very implementable plans. In today’s story, our protagonist shared his winter holiday study plan with us. It looks like although his schedule is not very full, but it is very detail orientated, not that difficult to achieve. Join other motivate...

When we bought a new car, most people are reluctant to let others drive their car for fear that they might cause some damages to the car. But there are some exceptional cases. In today’s story, we will see that our protagonist Xiao Gao drove his new car to work, not long after he got his driving license. He is more than happy to let others to drive his car for an urgent issue. Let’s take a look wh...

Peking Opera is the quintessence of China. Everyone who knows Peking Opera knows Mr. Mei Lanfang, a famous Master of Peking Opera in China. He had created an art stream of Peking Opera -- Mei School. In today’s story, we are going to look at how did Mr. Mei created so many classic images of Peking Opera.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily c...

From next week, colleges and universities in China will start the winter holiday. Because of the Chinese New Year, some of the students will go home and celebrate the New Year with their families. But some of the students have different plans to spend their holiday. In today’s story, our protagnoist shared his plan and some of his class-mates’for their winter holiday. We will see that although he...

In Chinese, when we read the number “1”, many people are used to pronounce it as “yao”  instead of “yi”.  But for people who have been to China for not too long, they would easily get confused. In today’s story, our protagonist Roy had some misunderstanding about the pronunciation of the number “1” in Chinese when he visited a hospital. We will see that both he and the doctor got quite confused. ...

The giant panda is a unique animal of China. They looks quite adorable, and often visit other countries as "ambassadors of friendship" representing China. In today’s story, we are going to look at their physical characteristics, life habits and the origin of their name in Chinese.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Mandar...

Now there are more and more foreign friends who speak Chinese very well. Some people speak Chinese as if they were Chinese. In today’s story, we are going to listen to a dialogue between Mary, Xiaoli and Lina Yu. Lina just met Xiaoli, and her Chinese really impressed Xiaoli. Let’s take a look why does she speak Chinese so well.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with m...

Yesterday was the New Year of 2022. Every New Year, there are always some people unconsciously feeling: "A year has passed, and we are one year older.” Along with that comes anxiety about getting older.  Today, we are going to discuss how could we feel comfortable with the fact of getting older and what kind of gifts does time bring as we grow older.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese...

Crosstalk is a form of Chinese folk art that combines the artistic characteristics of language and performance. In many people's minds, crosstalk is unique to northern China, but this is not the case. In today’s story, we are going to look at the classification, artistic features and performance techniques of crosstalk.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. R...

“ Take it as it comes” is a line from the Analects of Confucius, a collection of Confucian classics. In addition to its original meaning, people have also come up with a few of different interpretations. In today’s story, let’s take a look what are the meanings of this phrase.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Mandarin C...

In Chinese, the highest acknowledgement of a person's moral character and deeds is to call him "gentleman", which has been the ideal personality pursued by Chinese people for more than 2,000 years. Confucius was the first person to define the word "gentleman" in moral terms in China. In the Analects of Confucius, Confucius gave a detailed elaboration on the definition of a gentleman. In today’s st...

When it comes to cooking, some people think it's easy to improve their cooking skills by practicing. But some people believe that excellent cooking skills also requires talent and motivation. In today’s story, our protagonist recounted how his wife’s cooking skills improved over time.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Ma...

The opening of Winter Olympics in Beijing is just over a month to go, and we will enjoy the highest level of ice and snow sports in the world. Compared with European and Northern American countries, ice and snow sports started relatively late in China. But speaking of ice activities, China has had ice skating, sledding and other ice activities since a very early time. However, these activities wer...

Traditional Chinese Medicine has a long history and a unique theoretical system and therapeutic methods. In today’s story, we are going to discuss the differences between traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, and some of the principles of traditional Chinese Medicine treatment. Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading...

There are many controversial emperors in Chinese history, and historians hold different opinions about them. But there was one emperor, who despite his dishonorable reputation, but he is regarded by historians as one of the most accomplished emperors of the Qing Dynasty, he is emperor Yongzheng. In today’s story, we are going to discuss what were the major achievement of Yongzheng, and why has he...

Several years ago, unmarried thirtyish man or woman" was a hot topic among people, and several special terms have been developed, such as, "left-over men and women", "doomed single", golden bachelor”, etc.  Through the years, many people have learned to adjust their attitude and opinion towards this topic,and understand everyone has their own choices of life. However, for single people who turned...

Choosing a gift for a friend who is going to get married should be considerate. We need to know what do they actually need, whether there are any cultural taboos, etc. In today’s story, we will see that George was trying to figure out what kind of present he should give to a Chinese friend who is going to get married soon. He also got some advises from his Chinese friends.  Join other motivated le...

In many cities in China, there are some large and small parks. These parks are not only part of the environmental protection, but also for the  local residents to do some lesiure activites. Morning is usually the busiest time of day in these parks, and you'll find some people exercising and some people doing interesting leisure activities. In today’s story, our protagonist showed us a lrge and bea...

Many years ago, there was a popular book called “Men from Mars and women from Venus”. The book illustrates the differences between men and women in simple and funny ways. As for the reasons for the differences in mindset between men and women, some people think it is natural, while others think it is acquired. Today, let's discuss what are the reasons causes the differences in mindset between men...

Blind dates may be something that many single people have experienced. For most of us, when we meet our blind date for the first time, and there is no special feelings between both of us, we may never see each other again. But our protagonists of today’s story are exceptional. Although there is no special attachment between them first time they met, they still met each other a few more times after...

In Chinese history, each dynasty generally only had one capital. However, there were a few of exceptional cases. During Ming Dynasty, there were two capitals, and they had the same function. The two capitals are Beijing and Nanjing. Today we are going to discuss why the Ming Dynasty had two capitals. Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chines...

When we are in our own country, we all have our favorite coffee brand or coffee shop. When we come to China, we can see some international coffee brands, such as Starbucks and Costa, but there may not have the brands that we prefer. If we can find our favorite brand, it will be a pleasant surprise. In today’s story, our protagonist recounted how excited he was when he found his favorite coffee bra...

In Chinese, when we point out someone hold a post without qualifications or make up a number without active work, we use the idiom “làn yú chōng shù”. The direct meaning of this idiom is that pretend to play the Yu (a wind instrument) in order to make up the number for an orchestra. In today’s story, we are going to learn the original story behind this idiom.  Join other motivated learners on your...

When we travel to other places, accommodation is a very important issue. We always want to pick a comfortable, convenient hotel with an affordable price. In today’s story, our protagonist Xiao Li travelled to a city during the summer. He had picked up a hotel that has no air-con. The most unexpected thing is that he was asked to pay additional fees on top of the accommodation charges. Let’s take a...

There are many famous mountains in China, such as the Five Sacred Mountains and the four Famous Buddhist mountains. They all have their unique landscape and historical stories. In today’s story, we are going to look at two of the most famous mountains in China--Mount Tai and Mount Huangshan. They all have been listed as World Cultural and Natural Heritage sites. Join other motivated learners on yo...