Graded Chinese readings

102 passages, each written entirely inside one level so nothing in it is above your head. Every one carries a full translation, the new words, and a few questions to check you actually followed it.

Foundations — 3 passages

How Do You Say This in Chinese?这个中文怎么说？Anna does not know the words for what is on the table, so she uses the only four lines she needs: what is this called, say it again, I understood, tha…Foundations · 67 characters · 1 min · dailyI Didn't Catch That我没听懂David misses the question the first time and says so, which is the whole point of the lesson: not understanding is a line you can say, not a conversat…Foundations · 102 characters · 1 min · dailyWho Is the Teacher?谁是老师？Two strangers introduce themselves at a language school. Names, then countries, then the one question that turns out to have a surprise in it: which o…Foundations · 103 characters · 1 min · daily

HSK 1 — 15 passages

Who Cooks Tonight今天谁做饭A family works out who cooks tonight. The son wants to eat out, the mother says the restaurant is too expensive, and the father offers to cook rice an…HSK 1 · 122 characters · 1 min · dailyThe Book I Am Reading我在读的书A friend recommends a book she just finished in a week: the characters are not hard, and it is very interesting. Her friend, who thinks all books are…HSK 1 · 126 characters · 1 min · literatureBeijing Is Very Old北京很老A student asks a teacher how old Beijing is. The teacher answers in a round number of years and says how many people have lived there over that time.…HSK 1 · 131 characters · 1 min · historyWhich Film Tonight今天看什么电影Two friends stuck inside on a rainy day. David wants to watch a new Chinese movie; Lili already saw it last week with her mom. They talk it out and de…HSK 1 · 142 characters · 2 min · dailyHow Much Is Enough多少是够A friend with money wants a bigger house, then a bigger car, then more money for a still bigger house. Each time, his friend asks the same small quest…HSK 1 · 143 characters · 2 min · philosophyBring Fruit, Not Nothing去朋友家，带什么A learner is invited to a Chinese friend's family home for dinner and asks a classmate what to bring. The answer: never show up with nothing, fruit is…HSK 1 · 158 characters · 2 min · cultureThe Weather Does Not Listen天气不听我们的Rain cancels a trip to the cinema and one friend is furious at the sky. The other talks him down, question by question, until he sees the weather was…HSK 1 · 158 characters · 2 min · philosophyThe Slow Computer电脑太慢了Two classmates in the school computer room. One machine takes ten minutes to start, and the conversation turns into how long you keep a thing before y…HSK 1 · 162 characters · 2 min · techLong Life Noodles长寿面For his birthday, a grandmother makes her grandson one very long noodle and tells him not to bite it in half, because a broken noodle is supposed to m…HSK 1 · 174 characters · 2 min · foodThe Teacher from Beijing北京来的老师A new Chinese teacher introduces herself on the first day of class: where she's from, how long she's taught, what she likes. It turns out to be a firs…HSK 1 · 180 characters · 2 min · dailyThe Cat Dream我做梦是猫A child tells her mother she dreamed she was the family cat, then looks at the sleeping cat and asks whether the cat is now dreaming it is her, and ho…HSK 1 · 192 characters · 2 min · philosophyThe Train Is Late Either Way等车的时候Rain has delayed the trains and two travellers are stuck at the station. One keeps checking the time and getting more anxious. The other sits down wit…HSK 1 · 198 characters · 2 min · philosophyFirst Hotpot第一次吃火锅Xiaolong takes Mike out for his first hotpot and treats him to the meal. The pot is split into two broths, one spicy and one not, and Mike picks the s…HSK 1 · 199 characters · 2 min · foodIs the Cheap One Worth It便宜的好吗Two friends look at apples at the same stand, one basket cheap, one basket expensive. One says fruit is fruit. The other insists she can taste the dif…HSK 1 · 204 characters · 2 min · foodThe Fruit My Mother Always Buys妈妈总是买的水果A child notices his mother always buys the same three kinds of fruit at the store even though it sells many more. She explains she knows these well an…HSK 1 · 210 characters · 2 min · food

HSK 2 — 15 passages

I Forgot My Password我忘了密码Chen Jing is locked out of her phone and can't remember her password. Her friend Wang Lei walks her through trying the phone number, then the email, b…HSK 2 · 153 characters · 2 min · techThe Great Wall Is Long长城很长Xiao Hong asks Wang Ming to go to the Great Wall with her next Saturday. She has never been; he went last year and tells her how long it really is, ho…HSK 2 · 186 characters · 2 min · historyThe Eighth Floor八楼最贵A couple house-hunting with an agent discovers that the eighth floor costs more than the ninth, and the fourth costs least of all. The agent explains…HSK 2 · 225 characters · 3 min · cultureThe Exam Is Over考试已经完了Lili is upset about a bad exam result and can't stop replaying it in her head. Her friend Qiangqiang helps her see the line between the finished exam…HSK 2 · 248 characters · 3 min · philosophyThe Group Chat Is Too Busy群里的消息太多了Two coworkers complain that their company group chat gets hundreds of messages a day. One has turned off notifications for relief; the other worries a…HSK 2 · 248 characters · 3 min · techThe Well That Is Still There还在的那口井A grandmother explains why the old well in her courtyard has never been filled in, even though the family now drinks tap water. It is not useless, she…HSK 2 · 255 characters · 3 min · historyUgly Dumplings不好看的饺子A mother and daughter invite a friend to wrap dumplings with the family for the first time. Her dumplings come out ugly, with the meat falling out, an…HSK 2 · 257 characters · 3 min · foodThe High Speed Train坐高铁去上海Anna takes the high speed train to Shanghai for the first time and tells her friend Li Qiang how fast it is and what she saw from the window. He asks…HSK 2 · 266 characters · 3 min · current-eventsThe Shop That Closed关门的小店A small noodle shop near the school has closed, and a phone shop has opened in its place. Two regular customers notice the change on their street and…HSK 2 · 273 characters · 3 min · current-eventsTea in the Afternoon下午喝茶David visits Wang Fang's home in the afternoon and she makes tea. Talking about why her family always does this for a guest turns into the real point…HSK 2 · 286 characters · 3 min · cultureWe Read the Same Story一样的新闻，不一样的看法Two colleagues both read the same short news story about apple prices this morning, and they come away with opposite opinions about whether it is good…HSK 2 · 307 characters · 3 min · current-eventsHow Much Goes in the Red Envelope红包给多少A young couple preparing red envelopes for the new year disagrees on the amount. He wants a big round number because more money makes the kids happy.…HSK 2 · 308 characters · 3 min · cultureClass Online or in the Room网课还是教室里的课A university student now takes some classes online and some in the classroom. A friend who chose an all-in-person program asks if she really learns as…HSK 2 · 319 characters · 4 min · current-eventsLi Bai Looked at the Moon李白看月亮Two friends talk about Li Bai, a poet from more than a thousand years ago. One friend has never heard of him and asks why his poems still matter today…HSK 2 · 321 characters · 4 min · literatureEveryone Is My Teacher谁都能教我A boy tells his friend that his eight-year-old sister could not possibly teach him anything. Then he admits she beat him at basketball and his grandmo…HSK 2 · 329 characters · 4 min · philosophy

HSK 3 — 16 passages

The App That Knows My Taste手机怎么知道我喜欢什么Two friends notice their phones recommend exactly what they like, and disagree about whether an algorithm doing that is convenient or unsettling. One…HSK 3 · 255 characters · 3 min · techFive Carts of Books学富五车A student says her history teacher has read so much that people call him "five carts of books" learned, and her friend asks why being learned gets mea…HSK 3 · 326 characters · 4 min · historyWhere You Study Best在哪儿学习最好A student always studies at a busy coffee shop and says the background noise actually helps her focus; her roommate needs total silence in the library…HSK 3 · 327 characters · 4 min · dailyWorking from Home在家上班Two colleagues who used to sit near each other compare working from home with going to the office. One switched to working from home last month and li…HSK 3 · 339 characters · 4 min · current-eventsThe Message I Sent by Mistake发错了消息A woman sends a message complaining about her boss, but her phone sends it straight to the boss instead of to her friend. She calls her friend in a pa…HSK 3 · 340 characters · 4 min · techLearning to Cook My Mother's Dish学妈妈做的菜A daughter calls her mother to learn how to make the dish her mother always cooks. She wants an exact amount for the salt, but her mother can only eve…HSK 3 · 350 characters · 4 min · dailyWhy Do You Ask My Age为什么问我的年龄A foreign student is asked her age, her salary and whether she is married within minutes of meeting a new coworker, and feels the questions are much t…HSK 3 · 351 characters · 4 min · cultureReading a Novel in Chinese第一次读中文小说A learner tells a friend about finishing her first Chinese novel. At the start she looked up almost every word and it was slow and no fun at all. Part…HSK 3 · 388 characters · 4 min · literatureThe Fight for the Bill抢着付钱Dinner ends and two Chinese friends, Zhang Wei and Wang Fang, fight over who gets to pay, the way they do every time. Their American friend David trie…HSK 3 · 393 characters · 4 min · cultureThe Canal Still at Work还在用的运河A boat guide tells a tourist that the calm water beneath them is not a river but a canal, dug by hand over many years long ago to carry rice from the…HSK 3 · 413 characters · 5 min · historyThe Bike Share Problem共享单车放在哪里Shared bikes are everywhere in Chinese cities: cheap, convenient, and very often lying across the pavement. A resident finds her building's pavement b…HSK 3 · 418 characters · 5 min · current-eventsChopsticks Have Rules筷子的规矩At a family dinner a foreign guest sticks his chopsticks upright in his rice and the table goes quiet. His friend quietly lays them flat and only expl…HSK 3 · 431 characters · 5 min · cultureThe Lunch Nap午睡的习惯A new employee is startled when the office goes dark and silent right after lunch. A colleague explains that everyone naps, a habit that goes back to…HSK 3 · 438 characters · 5 min · dailyBreakfast on the Street街上的早饭Xiao Mei has bought her breakfast jianbing from the same street cart for about two hundred mornings, so the vendor starts her order before she says a…HSK 3 · 449 characters · 5 min · foodEveryone Goes Home过年，大家都回家A Chinese colleague spends her lunch break refreshing a ticket app, anxious about getting home for Spring Festival. She explains to her foreign cowork…HSK 3 · 457 characters · 5 min · cultureThe Translation App Got It Wrong翻译软件翻错了Tom used a translation app to order from a menu by himself and got scared when the app translated a dish name literally into something with ants in it…HSK 3 · 466 characters · 5 min · tech

HSK 4 — 17 passages

Does It Still Smell Okay闻着还能吃吗A mother smells a container of leftovers past its printed date and decides it is fine to eat; her adult daughter, raised on strict expiration dates, i…HSK 4 · 387 characters · 4 min · foodShould AI Write My Email该让人工智能写邮件吗Two coworkers argue about using artificial intelligence to draft work email. One says it saves an hour a day and no client has ever noticed. The other…HSK 4 · 447 characters · 5 min · techThe City I Could Not Afford住不起的城市Wang Fang has decided to leave Beijing for a smaller city because rent eats most of her salary and her daily commute eats the rest of her time. Li Qia…HSK 4 · 453 characters · 5 min · current-eventsWho Owns a Photograph照片是谁的A photographer discovers a company has used one of her photos in an advertisement without asking her. A friend who understands the law walks her throu…HSK 4 · 472 characters · 5 min · current-eventsThe Battery That Changed the Map电池改变了什么A skeptical friend doubts that cheaper batteries matter beyond electric cars. An engineer walks her through phones, storing power from the sun, and pl…HSK 4 · 500 characters · 6 min · techTranslating a Joke笑话很难翻译A student translating a Chinese joke book asks a professional translator why a joke about hotel floor numbers stopped being funny in English. The tran…HSK 4 · 529 characters · 6 min · literatureThe Old Man Who Moved the Mountains愚公移山A learner wants to quit studying Chinese because the characters feel endless and she will never live long enough to know them all. A friend tells her…HSK 4 · 541 characters · 6 min · philosophyGrandfather's Knife爷爷的那把刀A grandson wants to throw out a family knife that has been sharpened down to half its original width over sixty years, and is startled to learn the ha…HSK 4 · 559 characters · 6 min · philosophyThe Toast You Cannot Refuse你不能拒绝的敬酒At a company dinner, a junior employee is pressured into toast after toast though he doesn't want to drink. A senior colleague explains the unwritten…HSK 4 · 566 characters · 6 min · cultureThe Cook and the Ox庖丁的刀A frustrated learner complains that Chinese has too many characters to force-memorize. Her friend tells her Zhuangzi's story of Cook Ding, whose knife…HSK 4 · 567 characters · 6 min · philosophyHave You Eaten你吃了吗A foreign tenant is confused that his elderly landlady asks every day whether he has eaten and never seems interested in the actual answer. A friend e…HSK 4 · 580 characters · 6 min · foodHow a Character Was Built一个汉字是怎么来的A learner notices that 妈, 吗, and 骂 all sound alike and guesses it is because they share the component 马. A friend confirms the pattern, traces 马's sha…HSK 4 · 603 characters · 7 min · literatureThe Village That Came Back重新有人的村子Ten years ago the village emptied out as family after family moved to the cities. Now a few families have come back to run guesthouses and sell tea on…HSK 4 · 608 characters · 7 min · historyThe Subscription I Forgot to Cancel忘记取消的订阅Wang Fang discovers a subscription has auto-renewed for six months even though she has not used the app since spring. Li Qiang explains that this kind…HSK 4 · 616 characters · 7 min · current-eventsThe Review Nobody Wrote没人写的评论Two friends discover that a product's five hundred glowing reviews were generated by artificial intelligence rather than written by real buyers, and d…HSK 4 · 633 characters · 7 min · techThe Emperor's Diary皇帝的日记Two friends compare notes on keeping a diary. One describes a Roman emperor's private notebook, never meant for readers, reminding himself each mornin…HSK 4 · 642 characters · 7 min · philosophyThe Thousand-Year Exam考了一千年的试Stuck near a school during gaokao week, a foreign friend asks why one exam shuts down the whole street. His Chinese friend answers by going back more…HSK 4 · 667 characters · 7 min · history

HSK 5 — 18 passages

Why Water Wins为什么水能赢A friend explains how she finally got her demanding landlord to fix the heating, not by arguing but by agreeing with everything he said until he ran o…HSK 5 · 370 characters · 4 min · philosophyNot the Season, Not Eaten不时不食A greenhouse-grown winter tomato tastes like nothing, and one friend wonders why people still buy it. The other mentions that Confucius reportedly ref…HSK 5 · 457 characters · 5 min · foodNever Give a Clock别送钟Two friends shopping for a housewarming gift nearly buy a beautiful clock before one stops the other: giving a clock sounds exactly like seeing someon…HSK 5 · 466 characters · 5 min · cultureShould You Finish Your Plate该把盘子吃光吗At a family dinner, the wife wants to finish every dish because school taught her the Clean Plate Campaign, while her husband was raised to always lea…HSK 5 · 470 characters · 5 min · foodAnswer It or Let It Ring接不接电话An older colleague who always calls first and a younger one who always texts back argue about what a ringing phone actually asks of the person who hea…HSK 5 · 480 characters · 5 min · dailyRound Like the Moon和月亮一样圆A woman living far from home realizes she will miss Mid-Autumn Festival with her family for the first time. A friend explains why the festival centers…HSK 5 · 490 characters · 5 min · cultureThe Name Only Family Uses只有家人才叫的名字A coworker overhears an elderly relative call the narrator by a soft childhood nickname completely unlike his real name and asks about it. He explains…HSK 5 · 516 characters · 6 min · cultureThe Funeral Zhuangzi Did Not Want庄子不想要的葬礼A woman worries that a simple funeral for her aging father will look disrespectful. Her friend tells her how Zhuangzi, near death, refused his student…HSK 5 · 519 characters · 6 min · philosophyWhy We Keep Old Words为什么留着老词A learner is puzzled by a four-character idiom his friend uses to describe someone waiting for luck instead of working. She explains what a chengyu is…HSK 5 · 566 characters · 6 min · cultureThe City That Planned Itself一座自己长出来的城王磊 just moved to a new district built to a plan: straight streets, everything decided in advance. 陈静 still lives on an old street that grew on its own…HSK 5 · 592 characters · 7 min · historyThe Voice That Sounds Like You听起来像你的那个声音A friend discovers that a new app can clone her voice well enough to read a text message aloud, close enough that her own mother could not tell it apa…HSK 5 · 592 characters · 7 min · techThe Livestream That Sells Everything什么都能卖的直播间A friend has bought several things this month from a livestream host she has never met in person, always during a countdown discount that expires in m…HSK 5 · 598 characters · 7 min · current-eventsThe Calendar That Still Runs the Farm还在指导农事的历法A city granddaughter is surprised her grandmother's wall calendar still marks old terms like start of summer and frost's descent. The grandmother expl…HSK 5 · 605 characters · 7 min · historyThe Turtle in the Mud泥里的乌龟A friend who has just been offered a big promotion is leaning toward turning it down, because the job means far less freedom and constant oversight. H…HSK 5 · 617 characters · 7 min · philosophyWhat a Dictionary Cannot Tell You词典说不出来的那部分Two friends who both study Chinese argue about whether a dictionary definition is enough to know a word. David describes using a word in a work meetin…HSK 5 · 684 characters · 8 min · literatureGetting the Word Right First先把名分正了A company memo announces "restructuring" instead of saying that many people will lose their jobs, and two colleagues argue over whether the softer wor…HSK 5 · 694 characters · 8 min · philosophyThe Delivery Rider's Ten Minutes骑手的十分钟A woman leaves a bad review after her food delivery arrives four minutes late, sure she is only telling the truth about what she paid for. Her friend…HSK 5 · 725 characters · 8 min · current-eventsThree in the Morning, Four at Night朝三暮四A worker complains that her new contract pays the same yearly total but in a different monthly rhythm, and she resents it anyway. Her friend tells Zhu…HSK 5 · 726 characters · 8 min · philosophy

HSK 6 — 18 passages

Who Eats the Last Piece最后一块该谁吃At the end of a home dinner party, one piece of fish sits untouched on the plate while everyone insists they are already full. A newcomer to the table…HSK 6 · 525 characters · 6 min · foodA White Horse Is Not a Horse白马非马An online fight over whether a hot dog is a sandwich reminds one friend of an ancient Chinese logic riddle: the philosopher Gongsun Long argued a whit…HSK 6 · 534 characters · 6 min · philosophyThe Seat You Give Up on the Subway地铁上让出去的座位A young commuter gives up her subway seat to an elderly passenger without being asked, and instead of thanking her, he seems almost offended, mutterin…HSK 6 · 535 characters · 6 min · cultureWho Sits Where at the Table饭桌上的座位A young employee sits down at a business banquet before checking who else is at the table, and takes the seat facing the door, the seat meant for the…HSK 6 · 539 characters · 6 min · foodThe Meeting That Could Have Been a Message本可以是一条消息的会议An employee argues that most of her week's meetings only restate a document nobody read, and exist to make the organizer look busy. Her manager pushes…HSK 6 · 541 characters · 6 min · current-eventsThe Poet Who Kept Getting Demoted一贬再贬的诗人Two readers notice that Su Shi wrote many of his most famous works only after being demoted and exiled, first to Huangzhou, later to Huizhou and Haina…HSK 6 · 620 characters · 7 min · literatureWhy We Pickle为什么要腌菜Every autumn a grandmother still fills jars with pickled vegetables, decades after the refrigerator made it unnecessary. Her granddaughter pushes back…HSK 6 · 645 characters · 7 min · foodThe Novel Everyone Rereads Differently每一代人读出不同的红楼梦Two friends compare notes on a classic novel neither of them read the same way: one saw a love story at seventeen, the other just reread it and saw a…HSK 6 · 650 characters · 7 min · literatureThe Group Buy团购的麻烦事Every evening a resident spends twenty minutes in her building's group chat organizing a bulk vegetable order, and defends it as cheaper and fresher t…HSK 6 · 667 characters · 7 min · dailyYour Face Is the Password你的脸就是密码林悦 pays for groceries by smiling at a face-scanning register and finds it wonderful, nothing to carry, nothing to forget. 周凯 has kept his own phone ca…HSK 6 · 676 characters · 8 min · techThe Noise Upstairs楼上的声音A resident posts a polite complaint about footsteps overhead in the building's group chat, and the neighbor upstairs is hurt rather than apologetic, p…HSK 6 · 695 characters · 8 min · dailyThe Doorman Who Knows Everyone认识所有人的门卫新住户 finds it faintly annoying that the building's elderly doorman 张师傅 always notes exactly when she leaves and comes home and comments on it, until a…HSK 6 · 738 characters · 8 min · dailyDoes the Old Medicine Still Work老中医还有用吗林然这几个月一直腰疼，检查不出原因，最后去看了一位老中医，把脉看舌头之后喝了一副苦中药，三个星期后疼真的轻了不少。学西医的朋友周涛替她高兴，却不愿意承认是中药真的起了作用，他说一个人吃了药感觉好一点，证明不了什么，还提到有的中药材是后来实验室提炼出成分才证明管用的。两个人谁也说服不了谁，谁也没说对方…HSK 6 · 752 characters · 8 min · cultureThe Argument About Simplification简化字的那场争论王磊 grew up using simplified characters in mainland China; 林华 grew up using traditional characters in Taiwan. Looking at an old family photo, they work…HSK 6 · 760 characters · 8 min · historyReading the Classical in the Modern现代话里的古文A journalist and a translator friend talk about why classical Chinese never fully disappeared. It survives in formal written Chinese, in fixed charact…HSK 6 · 839 characters · 9 min · literatureWhat the Wheelwright Told the Duke轮扁对国君说的话A friend gives up on a cooking video for the fourth time, convinced there is a step nobody films. Another tells Zhuangzi's story of the old wheelwrigh…HSK 6 · 849 characters · 9 min · philosophyDoes the Dialect Die with the Grandparents方言会随着老人消失吗晓琳 went home for her grandmother's eightieth birthday and could only follow half of what she said in dialect; her cousin 阿珍, who stayed in the hometow…HSK 6 · 869 characters · 10 min · cultureDoes Your Zodiac Animal Matter属相重要吗Chen Jing's parents are quietly checking whether her new boyfriend's zodiac animal is compatible with hers, and she is annoyed about it and also, she…HSK 6 · 896 characters · 10 min · culture

What a graded reading is

A graded reading is a short passage written so that its grammar and vocabulary stay inside one level. This library holds 102 of them across 7 levels, from Foundations to HSK 6. Each runs 1 to 10 minutes and covers philosophy, culture, daily, food, current-events and tech, among other themes.

How to use the library

Pick your level from the row above and start with the shortest passage there. Each page lists the passage's title, a summary and its length. Open one to read it with pinyin and an English translation, hear it narrated, learn its new words and answer its comprehension questions (401 across the library). When a passage feels easy, move up a level. The words behind each level are on the printable word lists and in the dictionary.

Questions about the readings

How many graded readings are there?

102 passages across 7 levels, Foundations through HSK 6.

How long is a passage?

Between 1 to 10 minutes, or 67 to 896 characters.

What comes with each reading?

Pinyin, a full English translation, narration, a list of new words and a few comprehension questions. This page shows only the title and summary; the full text opens in the study room.

Which level should I start with?

The one whose vocabulary you already know. If you are unsure, try the HSK level checker or the placement test.