Learn Chinese with Beginner Stories

Chinese people are very hospitable, and like to invite friends for dinner. Nowadays, Chinese people have gradually accepted the idea of sharing the bill with others, but in many cases, we find that people are still willing to pay for the dinner for everyone. In today’s story, our protagonist thought that they have agreed to let him pay for the bill, but someone else was faster than him.  Join othe...

Siheyuan is also known as Courtyard Houses, which is the traditional, typical residential building in Beijing. It is a tradition to plant trees in siheyuan, but not just any kind of tree can be planted, here is a certain exquisite. In today’s story, we are going to talk about what kind of trees people tend to plant in siheyuan, and the meaning behind it.  Join other motivated learners on your Chin...

The topic of “should we follow our interest and make it as our profession” is a cliché that frequently been discussed as it is a question that almost all of us have faced. Without any doubt, with interests and passion, we surely can enjoy our work. However, the reality is not as simple as that. In today’s story, we are going to discuss why some people find it is hard to develop our career based on...

In some places of Fujian and Guangdong, there are many residential buildings with unique shapes. From the outside, they look like blockhouses. They are typical and unique residential buildings in China -- Earth Towers of the Hakkas. In today's story, we will discuss the history and architectural characteristics of this type of building. Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journe...

Mapo tofu is a very famous and popular dish in Sichuan cuisine. The character “po”in Chinese refers old woman or mother in law. People may wonder why this dish was named after an old woman. In today’s story, let’s take a look of the origin of “Mapo totu”. Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Mandarin Chinese in your inbox. F...

Listening carefully to others is not a difficult thing to do, but many people tend to ignore the messages others send to us. In today’s story, our protagonists are two friends, one of them created a puzzle for the other. However, even the answer is quite obvious, the other person still didn’t get it. Let’s take a look now.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot...

The criteria to evaluate people is a very broad topic and difficult to come up with a conclusion. In today’s story, we are going to discuss the standard of a good man. We will see why it is difficult to have a general standard to evaluate people.    Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Mandarin Chinese in your inbox. Full te...

In Chinese, people use Mr. Dongguo to describe people who are too kind and Zhongshan Wolf to describe people who are ungrateful. Those two terms are originated from a fable story of ancient China. Today, we are going to take a look at this fable story, let’s see what happened between Mr. Dongguo and the wolf.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a da...

Pagoda tree is also known as Chinese scholar tree. It is a very common tree species in China, especially in northern China. To Chinese people, the pagoda tree is a plant that has both practical and cultural values. In today’s story, we are going to look at why pagoda tree has significant meaning to Chinese people. It will help us to understand why it is also called Chinese scholar tree.  Join othe...

In traditional Chinese values, it is the family concept that the man goes out to work while the woman looks after the house. But for Shanghai local people , it may be an exception. In today’s story, our protagonist shared her view of why she thinks that shanghai local men are good husband.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading...

In China, the tiger is known as the King of the forest, while the fox is known for its crafty. What happens when these two animals meet? In today’s story, we are going to learn a Chinese idiom, which originally associated with these two animals. Let’s take a look what happened between them.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading...

Golf has become synonymous with fashion and high-end activity. In fact, many sports activities have social attributes. In today’s story, we are going to look at n ancient Chinese sport activity-- Chui-Wan. We will see that this activity is quite similar to the golf in terms of venues, rules and equipment etc.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a da...

As many people know, Chinese people have two ages, one is nominal year of age and the other is called full year of age.  Even for some Chinese people, they are not sure how to calculate the nominal year of age. In today’s story, we are going to discuss the calculation method of Chinese people’s nominal year of age.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receiv...

Noodles are popular staple food for Chinese people no matter in the southern or northern regions of China. In each province, they have their own way cook noodles. In today’s story, we are going to look at various types of noodles in China. We will see that there are some knowledge of health maintenance involved when eating noodles. Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey wit...

There is a Chinese saying goes "Seeing is believing." No matter how much we thought we know about a place without actually visiting there, as long as we arrive at the place, we could find some differences. In today’s story, our protagonist shared his view on some of the things that he found are different between China and his home country.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning jo...

The Chinese unicorn is a sacred animal and represent propitious in Chinese mythology. For thousands years, people have had various imaginations about what the unicorn looks like. According to a literature, people actually had see it in reality in Ming Dynasty. In today’s story, let’s take a look what did the “Chinese unicorn” look like.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journ...

Sima Guang was a famous historian in Chinese history. His major achievement was writing a history book of China called “History As A Mirror”. The book is an important reference for future generations to learn Chinese history. Apart from thisachievement, there is a well-known story about him that almost all Chinese people know. In today’s story, we are going to look through the story, it shows how...

When our friends invite us coming over to their house for lunch or dinner, we often try to be as helpful as we can as a guest. In today’s story, our protagonist recounted her experiences of coming over to her friend’s house for lunch. We will see that she is a very helpful guest.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Mandari...

Nowadays, e-payment has provided great convenience to us, and saves us a lot of time to withdraw money from the bank. But for some business, we still have to go to the bank. In today’s story, we are going to listen to a conversation between David and Xiao Hong regarding to the opening and closing time of bank.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a d...

It may sounds very strange to link the word “quality” with human in Chinese. So when someone calls himself as a high quality male of human being, it would get people's attention. In today’s story, we are going to look at the origin of the term “high quality male of human being”. It started with a video posted by a guy, and most of the people watched it for the first time would think it was a joke,...

In modern society, the tuition fees we paid for our schooling is accounted in currency. In ancient China, there are various form of “tuition fees” through different period of time. In today’s story, we are going to look at how did students pay tuition fees in ancient China.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Mandarin Chin...

Autumn is an ideal season for outdoor activities, such as hiking, and mountain climbing etc. In today’s story, we are going to climb up to Huong Son, which is the most famous mountain in Beijing. There are several things that we need to be aware of when conduct this outdoor activity.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese reading in Man...

Sun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King,  is a key character of the famous Chinese novel “Journey to the West”. He has power of the almighty, and is perceived as an immortal figure in the eyes of Chinese people. In today’s story, we are going to discuss who is the original model of Sun Wukong.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chinese r...

Sometimes it happens to us, when we are in a public place, such as a restaurant, or a coffee shop, we may accidently left something there and realized later on. In today’s story, we are going to hear a conversation between David, Xiao Ming and a restaurant staff. David couldn’t find his bag after leaving the restaurant.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. R...

Going to bed early and getting up early is a widely accepted lifestyle that is beneficial to health and efficiency of work and study. However, it becomes more difficult for people to get to bed early nowadays due to varied reasons. In today’s story, we are going to discuss why we shouldn’t force ourselves to get up early when we slept late the night before.  Join other motivated learners on your C...