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Chinese reading by HSK level

Short scenes, longer stories and advanced source texts.

HSK 1

Follow short scenes about people, places and everyday objects.

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HSK 2

Connect a plan with a time, a place and a reason for changing it.

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HSK 3

Use clues across several lines to explain a mistake or a decision.

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HSK 4

Read for implied requests, social expectations and changes of intention.

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HSK 5

Sustain a longer narrative and connect events with a character’s changing expectations.

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HSK 6

Keep track of a longer story, motives and the evidence for a character’s choices.

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HSK 7–9

Interpret narrative voice, irony and older Chinese phrasing in sustained source texts.

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Read, check, retell

  1. Read once for the situation or argument. Leave unfamiliar words until the second pass.
  2. Use the recording, translation and dictionary where available. Answer the story’s comprehension questions.
  3. Retell the scene or explain the argument in Chinese. Save useful words in the reading page’s Study tools.
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