Learn Chinese with Beginner Stories

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...

Today is the Ghost Festival in China, it is also known as Zhong Yuan Festival. The festival is used to memorize ancestors and family members who have passed away. Also people believe that after the mid-night, ghosts will come out from the underworld and cause trouble. In today’s story, we are going to talk about the meaning of Ghost Festival to Chinese people, and a quite well-known figure in Chin...

When we check into a hotel, we often tell the reception our preferences towards the room or make sure they arrange the room according to our request. In today’s story, we are going to hear a conversation between George and a hotel reception. George is about to check into the hotel he reserved early on.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily chi...

As we know, Chinese people always express their feelings implicitly. Especially in ancient times, when people met someone they like, they could not express their feelings directly, and couldn’t let others see it either. So they use objects that represent love to express their feelings, and let the other person know what they are thinking. In today’s story, we are going to look at some of the token...

Nowadays, there are Chinese restaurants all over the world, and there is a wide variety of them, including Sichuan, Cantonese, Northeastern and Shanghai food etc. Having Chinese food abroad is a quite normal thing to do. In today’s story, we are going to hear a conversation between Ma Li, Xiao Hong and David. They are discussing the meal options, and David also shared his opinion towards the diffe...

For Many people who study Chinese may find it is difficult to learn quantifiers because there are a lot of quantifiers, and some of them don't follow any rules. In today’s story, we are going to discuss the use of quantifiers in Chinese. We will see that there are some rules that we could follow to make the learning process easier.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey wi...

Whether in ancient times, or in modern times, liquor always is an essential thing on the dining table when people gathered in a banquet. In many people’s perceptions, most of the traditional Chinese liquors taste strong and spicy. In today’s story, we are going to talk about various liquors produced during Tang Dynasty. We will find out that the definition of a good liquors was different then than...

The fish flavored pork slices is a classic and popular dish in China, it is blended with various flavors. For people who have this dish for the first time, they always curious about why it is called fish flavored, but there is no fish in the dish. In today’s story, we are going to solve the puzzle, and discuss what makes a good fish flavored pork slices.  Join other motivated learners on your Chin...

When we going out with friends, the selection of restaurant would always be an unavoidable topic. In today’s story, we are going to listen to a conversation between Xiao Li and Jack. They are discussing where should they go to have their lunch. We will see that there are several choices available for them.  Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily...