There are many Chinese Writing Contests. But this is the ONLY one that comes with a strict character requirement. Only a maximum of 320 unique Chinese characters can be used, and only 19 of them are allowed to be used as special characters. This requirement effectively places students who have studied Chinese for ten years in a position similar to those who have learned for just one year. And that is a good thing.

After the release of Mandarin audio courses of Intro Level A, Intro Level B and Basic Level A, the fourth audio course, Mandarin Express Basic Level B, is now available! Building up from the previous three courses, the topics featured in this course are more connected to our life and our experience of the world, and at the same time, English explanation is reduced to the minimum.

One important aspect of learning Chinese is to learn about Chinese food. During the Chinese New Year, we’d love to talk about dumplings and all the auspicious good food. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, it’s all about moon cakes and those wonderful seasonal fruits. Right now, it is about zong zi (粽子), as Duan Wu Jie (端午节) is coming up!

Train your ears with Mandarin audio lessons first, and finish with re-enforcing exercises in the Work Book. Listen better, and speak well. We’re here to help you achieve just that. The third release of Mandarin audio lessons of Mandarin Express Basic Level A is now available!

Recently, film maker Chloe Zhao brought the classical Chinese to the center of the world! During her Oscar speech, she cited a line from a famous text, which most Chinese learners don’t know about. I think this is a good opportunity to explain what had happened to the teaching and learning Chinese, and to commemorate the May Fourth Movement 102 years ago.

A great way to improve Chinese listening skills is to use ears to learn Chinese first, eyes second. This is especially important for beginner students who are so often baffled by all the similar tones and many look-alike pinyin words. To achieve that, audio lessons are a wonderful tool students should look into. That’s exactly what I’m currently working on. Following the previous release of Mandarin Express Intro Level A audio lessons, I’m happy to announce that Intro Level B audio lessons have just been made available!

To be exact, 1668 years on April 14, 2021, which is the third day of the third month in Chinese lunar calendar. It was the same day in 353CE that the poet and the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi (王羲之) composed and wrote a poem in the semi-cursive script, Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion,《蘭亭集序》. It is perhaps the most well known masterpiece of calligraphy in Chinese history, and it is this masterpiece that appears on the covers of all Chinese Reading and Writing books. 

Listening has always been a weak spot for beginner students who are learning Chinese. After they’ve learned some phrases, they experience a total blank when the same phrases are coming out from other people’s mouths. Today, I’m happy to announce that we have added one more solution to our tool kit for beginner students to develop their listening skills.

International Women’s Day (March 8) is coming. It is a highly celebrated day worldwide. In Chinese, it is called 妇女节, 三八节, 三八妇女节, or 国际妇女节. As MSL Master is 100% female led and operated, I am happy to contribute to this special occasion and introduce three must known Chinese women in history. 

The fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year is a special occasion, a festival within a festival. According to Lao She (老舍), this is the climax of the Chinese New Year. It is the brightest and the most beautiful festival. 

With the final video lesson of Chinese Reading and Writing 6 uploaded, all the ground work is finished, and the Complete Beginner’s Chinese Reading and Writing Course Kit now entered its final development stage. We’re excited!

A business guru once said something like this: Don’t overestimate how much you can do in one day, and don’t underestimate how much you can achieve over a year. This is so true. After a little more than twelve months of intense effort, with the final lesson of Review 6 uploaded last night, the entire video lessons of the Chinese Reading and Writing series are finally completed!

After some intense and productive weeks, I’m happy to announce that the fifth Chinese writing course is completed, uploaded, and ready for viewing. Based on the textbook Chinese Reading and Writing 5, eighteen online lessons have been released.

A new batch of 19 video lessons for learning how to read and write Chinese are completed, uploaded, and ready for viewing. This is the fourth Chinese course teaching 50 new Chinese characters, 222 words and combinations, and 4 grammar points. And two old characters are brought back and are reintroduced for their second pronunciations and meanings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been raging for nearly a year now. It has put many things into a stop, and freed up some time, which has to be dealt with seriously. The following are nine ways you can use to kill time. All of them are one-person activities, and can be good clean fun. Learning how to say them in Chinese is the side benefits.