Learn Chinese with Beginner Stories

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...

In ancient China, there were four famous beauties. Xi Shi was one of them. There are several legendary stories about Xi Shi, and some idioms are also related to her. In today’s story, we are going to look at how did Xi Shi become one of the most famous femal figure in ancient China, and also learn a few of idioms that related to her.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey...

With the development of social media, many people are willing to share what they see and hear during their daily life. Some people also like to post what do they have for meal. In today’s story, our protagonist recounted his experiences of having dinner with his college mates. We will see that his classmates have some habitual behavior before the dinner, and he didn’t quite enjoy it.  Join other m...

It's winter time, and it's relatively warm when there's no wind. The temperature drops a lot when the wind blows. The power of wind can benefit many things, but it can also damage buildings and crops etc. Since ancient times, people's feelings towards wind could be very contradictory, it is a mixture of respect and fears. So people deified the wind, and developed the image of “God of Wind” during...

In Chinese, people using the word of “Bo Le”to describe the talent scout, and the word of “swift horse”to describe people who are talented and capable of doing things. In today’s story, we are going to look through an ancient Chinese story, it is where those two words are originated. The story also shows us how important it is to have a talent scout to explore people’s strength and capablities. Jo...

Today is the “Beginning of Winter”, which is one of the 24 solar terms in China. In each of the solar term, Chinese people have some traditional customs. Of course, these customs are differed in the north and south of China. In today’s story, we are going to look at a special custom for people from north China on the day of ”Beginning of Winter”.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese lear...

Today is the “Beginning of Winter”—one of the twenty-four solar terms in Chinese lunar calendar. In the north China, majority of the houses have turned on the heating because it is pretty cold already. In today’s story, we are going to walk into the most well-known palace in China—The Forbidden City, and take a look at how the heating system worked in the palace. People who visit the palace always...

Today is the “Beginning of Winter”, which is one of the twenty-four solar terms. It used to be an important festival for Chinese people because in the past, Chinese people believes that winter is the season of rest and recuperation, people who have been working hard all year need to have a good rest. In today’s story, we are going to look at the climate changes and the traditions during “Beginning...

Today is Halloween. For adults, the most interesting part of this festival is all kinds of costumes and theme parties. Attending these parties, having a unique makeup will make you the center of the party. However, there are also few things that we should be aware of before putting the Halloween makeup on, because improper use of makeup products can cause skin problems to us. Let’s take a look wha...

The climate of China differs greatly from that of the north to the south. For people living in the south, snow in the north is something they envy. For those who live in the north, they also admire the warm winter weather in the south. Of course, these perceptions are limited and can't match people's own experience. In today’s story,  our protagonist recounted the different experiences of living i...

Shopping is a very important activity in our life, and it also makes us feel happy when we bought something that we really like. A lot of people find it is difficult to control our enthusiasm towards shopping and ends up in buying many stuffs that we don’t really need. Everyone knows that we should be more rational towards shopping, but hard to do so. In today’s story, we are going to discuss how...

When it comes to name a child, most of the Chinese parents would take many factors into consideration, such as how the name sounds, does the name contain good meanings, does it in line with the eight characters of birth, etc. In today’s story, we are going to look at two parents who are having difficulties to come up with a name for their daughter. There is a contradiction between the last name an...

In our yesterday’s story, we knew that our protagonist lost his bank card and needs to go to the bank and get a new one. In today’s story, we are going to hear a conversation between David and a bank staff. David went to the bank and apply for a new card. Let’s take a look what does it require to get a new bank card.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Rece...

Gift-giving is an important part of social interaction. In China, there is a trend in recent years that people tend to give money to others directly instead of choosing a gift for them. Now both Wechat and Alipay can directly send "red envelopes" to others, making the process easier and more simple. In today’s story, we are going to discuss why people prefer to give money to others instead of sele...