Reading is the perfect way to pick up new vocabulary and grammar at your own speed, and using a variety of reading sources for input will dramatically increase your vocabulary and comprehension. You should focus on reading material that is at or just above your Chinese level. If what you’re reading is at or just above your level, you should be able to answer the 5 Ws. Who or what is the main topic? What are they doing, or what is its purpose? When is it happening? Where is it happening? And, why is it happening? You don’t need to understand every detail, but you should understand the overall story or purpose. If you don’t understand the story or purpose, read something easier. It’s ok if you have to look up a lot of words, especially in the beginning. Using reading aids to look up new words will allow you to stretch above your reading level and pick up new vocabulary, and over time you’ll have to look up fewer and fewer new words as reading gets easier.
If you are looking for tools to assist you with your reading, check out the article below. There are a lot of tools that make reading Chinese much easier and more fun.
How to Organize Your Reading Sources
I usually read on my phone, so I have a folder where I keep bookmarks for all the Chinese news websites I like to read. If you prefer reading on a PC, you can create a bookmark folder to store all the websites on your bookmark bar, or you can store the links in your Notion planner.
I use the Brave browser for reading because it removes a lot of clutter and makes nice-looking thumbnails when I add a website to my home screen. However, you can use any browser to add links to your home screen, just go to settings, then click “add to home screen.”
Beginner
Before you start reading Chinese articles, you should have a basic understanding of grammar and vocabulary, in addition to being able to read pinyin and about 200-300 hanzi. If you have already completed HSK 1 and 2, you are more than ready.
Mandarin Bean
Mandarin Bean is one of the best reading resources for a beginner because it provides audio, pinyin, and a pop-up dictionary alongside simple, fun passages. The passages are sorted by level and use relevant vocabulary and topics. Unfortunately, there are no translations available for free members, but the articles are simple enough that if you pick an article at your level you shouldn’t need a translation.
HSK Reading
HSK Reading has passages available for all levels with a pop-up dictionary for easy vocabulary lookup. The passages also have a short quiz to test your reading comprehension as well as English translations.
Little Fox Chinese
Little Fox Chinese is a great learning platform for immersion as a beginner. They have stories at five different levels and each story is broken down into chapters with an animated video, quiz, and vocabulary list. The stories are fun and interactive for both children and adults. While Little Fox Chinese, unfortunately, doesn’t release any new content, they still have a large library available for free when you create an account.
Chinese Reading Practice
Chinese Reading Practice is a simple but useful website. The website has a collection of short passages in Chinese with a pop-up dictionary and English translations.
Intermediate
At the intermediate level, it’s time to start reading more complicated Chinese articles about more varied topics. These websites are still intended for learners and Chinese children, but they are written with more advanced grammar and vocabulary.
Qigushi
Qigushi is a website with lots of short stories and fairytales for children and Chinese learners. The stories are interesting and easy to read, and some even have illustrations to go along with the story.
ZB Schools
ZB Schools is a Singaporean newspaper intended for children and Chinese learners. Each article uses simple language and has a pop-up dictionary, audio, and pinyin that you can toggle on and off.
Todai Easy Chinese
Todai offers a variety of current news articles that are simple and easy to read as well as a built-in pop-up dictionary.
Purple Culture
Purple Culture publishes news articles daily with pinyin, English translations, and a pop-up dictionary.
Advanced
At the advanced level, you should now focus on reading books and articles intended for native Chinese speakers. Below are several websites for reading books and manhua, but I also recommend finding websites that write about topics you are interested in, such as sports, science, pop culture, or history. You can find new websites by Googling your interests in Chinese and bookmarking the ones that look interesting. Many Chinese apps and websites require you to sign-up with a Chinese social media account such as WeChat or QQ to be able to use them. If you wish to buy something, then you must use WeChat Pay or AliPay. For all of the freemium and premium sites listed below, you will need a Chinese social media account. I recommend using WeChat, and you can check out the article below on how to set it up.
WeChat Books -Freemium
WeChat Books is an app available through WeChat with many free ebooks and audiobooks. It is great for Chinese learners because it has built-in lookup features and you can follow along with audiobooks via AI-highlighted text. The app has a vast library including books about literature, history, science, and art among others.
Qidian – Freemium
Qidian is a popular web novel publisher with thousands of books to choose from. Some books can be read for free, but many require a subscription after a certain amount of chapters. The subscription is cheap, so if you wish to support Chinese authors and read a lot of books, then this website is a great choice!
Enjing
Enjing has a lot of globally popular and classic books available for download as ebooks.
Luoxia Dushu
Luoxia Dushu also has a lot of globally popular books that can be read in your browser or with the help of Readibu.
Zhenhun Xiaoshuo
Zhenhun Xiaoshuo has many popular danmei web novels that can be read in your browser or through Readibu.
Z-Library
To access Z-library, you must create a free account. Also, make sure you use the correct website linked below because there are fake ones. This library has a wide variety of popular books available to download and read.
Bilibili Manhua – Premium
Bilibili Manhua is a popular Chinese webcomic publisher. You can download their app directly from their website and sign in with WeChat. Their comics are generally pretty cheap at about ~$1-2 USD per volume.
Kuaikan – Premium
Kuaikan is another popular webcomic publisher. Many of their comics can be accessed via a cheap ~$1 monthly subscription or bought for a few dollars.
Happy Manhua
Happy Manhua has many popular Chinese manhua, and you can easily set up a free account by signing in with Google.
