8:07HSK 1 · Story
The Contest at the Airport
机场里的比赛
Free Mandarin listening practice
Chinese listening practice for every HSK level
Graded Chinese stories, listening quizzes and conversations with slow, native Mandarin audio, pinyin and English subtitles. Listen, then repeat each sentence out loud. From HSK 1 to HSK 9.
Lessons by HSK level
Every lesson stays within the words and grammar of its HSK 3.0 level.
Elementary
HSK 1
500 words · 300 characters
Very short, concrete sentences about yourself, family, numbers and daily life.
22 lessons
Elementary
HSK 2
1,272 words · 600 characters
Simple everyday situations: shopping, weather, hobbies, getting around.
16 lessons
Elementary
HSK 3
2,245 words · 900 characters
Short narratives about work, study, travel and plans with simple connectors.
5 lessons
Intermediate
HSK 4
3,245 words · 1,200 characters
Connected stories with feelings, opinions and cause and effect.
Intermediate
HSK 5
4,316 words · 1,500 characters
Richer narratives with social topics, nuance and some idiomatic phrasing.
Intermediate
HSK 6
5,456 words · 1,800 characters
Fluent storytelling with abstract ideas, culture and written-style connectors.
Advanced
HSK 7-9
11,092 words · 3,000 characters
Literary narration, complex sentences and culturally rich vocabulary.
New lessons
Three ways to practise
Stories 故事
Short illustrated stories at your level. Each sentence is read slowly with pinyin and English, then you repeat it in the pause.
Listening quizzes 听力测验
Hear a sentence with no subtitles and pick its meaning from three answers. Then see the answer and repeat it out loud.
Conversations 对话
Everyday dialogues with two voices. You play one person: answer in your own words, then hear and repeat the real reply.
Why shadowing works
Shadowing means repeating right after a native speaker. Saying each sentence out loud trains your ear and your mouth together: you notice tones you would miss when only listening, and you build the rhythm of real Mandarin. A few minutes a day with sentences at your level is enough to hear progress.
How to shadow Chinese, step by step →Frequently asked questions
›Is it free?
Yes. Every lesson is a free video on YouTube with its transcript, pinyin, English translation and key words on this site.
›What is HSK 3.0?
HSK 3.0 is the current Chinese proficiency standard (GF0025-2021). It has nine levels in three bands: Elementary (HSK 1 to 3), Intermediate (HSK 4 to 6) and Advanced (HSK 7 to 9). Each level adds words, characters and grammar points.
›Which level should I start with?
Pick the level where you understand most of a story with the English subtitles, and some of it without. If you are new to Chinese, start with HSK 1: the sentences are short and the narration is slow.
›What is shadowing?
Shadowing means listening to a native speaker and repeating right after them, copying their pronunciation, tones and rhythm. It trains listening and speaking at the same time. Every video here has a pause after each sentence for you to repeat it.
›Do I need to read Chinese characters?
No. Every sentence shows pinyin above the characters and an English translation, so you can follow by ear and with pinyin first.
›How are the lessons made?
The stories are written for each HSK level and checked against the official HSK 3.0 word lists, then illustrated and narrated with AI. Every recording is transcribed and compared with its sentence to make sure it says exactly what is written.