Beginner Chinese reading

Start with a short, approachable chapter from duwen’s public-domain Chinese library. These picks favor vocabulary at HSK 4 or below, then shorter chapters, so you can open a real story without committing to a whole book.

Chapters to start with

  1. 疲倦的母親The Weary Mother空山靈雨261 Chinese word tokens76% of words ≤ HSK 4
  2. 第三章Grandfather and the Back Garden呼蘭河傳8,623 Chinese word tokens76% of words ≤ HSK 4
  3. 光底死The Death of Light空山靈雨335 Chinese word tokens75% of words ≤ HSK 4
  4. 春風沉醉的晚上Intoxicated Spring Nights郁達夫小說選5,306 Chinese word tokens75% of words ≤ HSK 4
  5. 海The Sea空山靈雨244 Chinese word tokens74% of words ≤ HSK 4
  6. 暗途The Dark Road空山靈雨430 Chinese word tokens74% of words ≤ HSK 4
  7. 第五章The Child Bride呼蘭河傳13,678 Chinese word tokens74% of words ≤ HSK 4
  8. 立論On Expressing an Opinion野草169 Chinese word tokens73% of words ≤ HSK 4

Help while you read

Tap any word for pinyin, definitions, audio, and example sentences. HSK coloring shows familiar and new vocabulary at a glance, and you can switch between traditional and simplified Chinese. Sentence-level English glosses offer another foothold when you need one.

The reader is static and needs no account: reading progress and saved vocabulary stay locally in your browser, where you can also export saved words to Anki.