Stories

Mum haggles over apples at the fruit shop, but someone else gets one first.

Fiction · 11 sentences · about 2 min

Mary meets a new classmate in Beijing and mixes up fourteen and forty.

Fiction · 11 sentences · about 2 min

Mum phones at noon to check on her son, who isn't quite telling the truth.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 2 min

Xiaomei can't find her cat Mimi anywhere, until Dad sits down in his favourite chair.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 2 min

Tom offers to treat his friend Xiao Wang to dinner, then finds his money is missing.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 2 min

A man tries on coat after coat in a big shop, and finally finds one that fits perfectly.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 2 min

When and how Chinese people drink tea: at home, at work, with meals and with guests.

Non-fiction · 11 sentences · about 2 min

A foreign student feels ill and gets advice from a Chinese friend, then from a doctor. It sounds familiar.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 2 min

A traveller races across town by taxi to catch a four o'clock train, then takes a closer look at the ticket.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 2 min

Two friends in cold Beijing and hot Guangzhou chat about the weather, and both have the same secret plan.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 2 min

Anna knows four words of Chinese, so she orders lunch by pointing at other people's tables.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 2 min

Dad didn't want a mobile phone. Now he messages twenty times a day.

Fiction · 11 sentences · about 2 min

Lost in Shanghai with a train to catch, a traveller asks the way three times.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 2 min

The doctor says to run every morning. It takes a dog to make it happen.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 2 min

Where giant pandas live, why they spend most of the day eating bamboo, and how tiny their babies are.

Non-fiction · 11 sentences · about 2 min

It's raining, so the boys play football in the classroom, until the door opens.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 3 min

Nobody seems to remember her birthday. Then she opens the front door.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 3 min

A traveller's guide to the subway in a big Chinese city: tickets, bag checks, lines, changing trains and rush hour.

Non-fiction · 12 sentences · about 3 min

China's biggest holiday: going home, the New Year's Eve dinner, red envelopes, dumplings and firecrackers.

Non-fiction · 13 sentences · about 3 min

How paying by phone works in China, from big shops to street stalls, and what a visitor should set up first.

Non-fiction · 12 sentences · about 3 min

A tired traveller checks into his hotel, opens the door to his room and finds someone already there.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

Mum always says to get to the airport early. Today the flight is late, and her sister has listened to Mum too.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

A Chinese student and an American swap language lessons over coffee, and one wrong tone starts a friendship.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

A tiny picture book of actions: singing, waving, clapping, listening.

Fiction · 8 pages · about 1 min

Xiao Li is determined not to be late for work, whatever the subway and lift do.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 2 min

A boy waits and waits at the zoo for a panda that will not wake up.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 2 min

Home alone, a teenager cooks noodles for the first time. It does not go well.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 3 min

Someone keeps eating the cake in the fridge. A camera solves the mystery.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

Teahouses, hotpot and pandas: an introduction to relaxed, spicy Chengdu.

Non-fiction · 12 sentences · about 3 min

A stranger shares her umbrella in the rain, and he keeps it for a month.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

A tourist with a cold visits a Chinese pharmacy and hears the same advice twice in one day.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

Two friends eat their way down a snack street, then join a long queue without knowing what it's for.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

On the first day at a Chinese language school, one wrong tone makes the whole class laugh.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 3 min

A new student in Beijing gets a Chinese phone number, then can't work out the Wi-Fi password.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

Full moons, mooncakes and family reunions: what the Mid-Autumn Festival is about, and the story of Chang'e.

Non-fiction · 11 sentences · about 3 min

A girl and her dad go shopping for Mum's birthday, and one of them gets lost.

Fiction · 12 sentences · about 3 min

A practical guide to China's high-speed trains, from buying a ticket with your passport to finding your seat.

Non-fiction · 12 sentences · about 3 min

A child looks for someone to read to, but the whole family is busy.

Fiction · 8 pages · about 1 min

Nothing fits a very tall man, so he makes everything bigger.

Fiction · 11 pages · about 2 min

Zama gets up early, washes, dresses and helps out: she's great, and she knows it.

Fiction · 12 pages · about 2 min

At the market nobody will buy bananas from a man, until one woman does.

Fiction · 12 pages · about 3 min

Seven-year-old Khalai talks to every plant on her way to school.

Fiction · 8 pages · about 4 min

Xiao Wang gives up his subway seat on the way to a job interview.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 3 min

Mum learns to shop on her phone, and parcels start arriving every day.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 3 min

Grandma never measures anything, so how do you make her Spring Festival dumplings?

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 3 min

Cycling the city wall, the Terracotta Army and the Muslim Quarter: a guide to the old capital of Xi'an.

Non-fiction · 14 sentences · about 4 min

Why China races dragon boats and eats zongzi on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month: the story of Qu Yuan.

Non-fiction · 13 sentences · about 4 min

Green, red, oolong and pu'er: the main kinds of Chinese tea, and the manners that go with drinking it.

Non-fiction · 13 sentences · about 4 min

In a rainstorm, a traveller books a car on his phone and jumps into the wrong one.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 4 min

A quiet new colleague eats lunch alone and leaves at six sharp. The office gets the wrong idea.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 4 min

Tai chi at dawn and square dancing at dusk: how Chinese parks keep people fit, and why the music causes rows.

Non-fiction · 14 sentences · about 4 min

A new English teacher opens a Chinese bank account and finds an unforgettable PIN.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 4 min

A very hungry crocodile hunts slowly and quietly, and then: POW!

Fiction · 5 pages · about 1 min

A folk tale: after a taxi ride, this is why dogs chase cars and goats run from them.

Fiction · 8 pages · about 3 min

A folk tale about a family of wax children who must never go out in the sun.

Fiction · 11 pages · about 3 min

Rahim eats the family's fruit before dinner, and the fruit punishes him.

Fiction · 12 pages · about 3 min

Chicken and Millipede play football to see who is best, and end up enemies forever.

Fiction · 12 pages · about 5 min

A folk tale: why hens scratch the ground and eagles swoop on chicks.

Fiction · 10 pages · about 8 min

Grandpa makes friends with a smart speaker, and his grandson gets the message.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 4 min

A delivery rider arrives late in a storm and is met with kindness.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 4 min

A second-hand book holds a note signed by readers going back thirty years.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 4 min

Why northern China eats more wheat and the south more rice, and how regional flavours differ.

Non-fiction · 14 sentences · about 5 min

How a small riverside town became a great port, and where to see its old and new faces today.

Non-fiction · 14 sentences · about 5 min

A storm grounds a late-night flight, and strangers at the gate become friends.

Fiction · 15 sentences · about 5 min

How China's shared bikes work, the boom and bust of 2016-2017, and the parking rules today.

Non-fiction · 14 sentences · about 5 min

A step-by-step guide to visiting a Chinese hospital: registering, waiting, paying and getting medicine.

Non-fiction · 15 sentences · about 5 min

How rubbish sorting works in Chinese cities, from Shanghai's 2019 rules to everyday habits now.

Non-fiction · 14 sentences · about 5 min

What Beijing's old lanes and courtyard houses are, how people lived in them, and how to visit.

Non-fiction · 14 sentences · about 5 min

A short picture book about what fire does: it burns, cooks, warms and gives light.

Non-fiction · 8 pages · about 1 min

Count the animals going down to the water to drink, until a lion roars.

Fiction · 8 pages · about 1 min

Tingi and his grandmother hide from the soldiers who took their cows.

Fiction · 11 pages · about 2 min

A 2020 news report: Chongqing Zoo celebrates the 38th birthday of Xinxing, the longest-lived giant panda.

Non-fiction · 6 sentences · about 2 min

A December 2020 news report: China's Chang'e 5 probe touches down on the Moon to collect samples.

Non-fiction · 9 sentences · about 3 min

From a travel guide: why Chengdu is a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, its famous dishes, and cheap noodle shops.

Non-fiction · 10 sentences · about 4 min

From a travel guide: Xi'an's wheat noodles, famous snacks, and eating respectfully on the Muslim Quarter street.

Non-fiction · 13 sentences · about 4 min

A folk tale: Rabbit takes revenge on Hippo, and that is why hippos have no hair.

Fiction · 8 pages · about 4 min

From a travel guide: Beijing's seasons, summer storms, cold mountains and smog days, and what to bring.

Non-fiction · 10 sentences · about 4 min

A village with many problems holds a meeting and decides to change things together.

Fiction · 16 pages · about 4 min

From a travel guide: Shanghai's rise since 1840, Puxi and Pudong, the river ferry, and getting around by metro.

Non-fiction · 11 sentences · about 5 min

A folk tale: Anansi the spider tries to keep all the world's wisdom to himself.

Fiction · 6 pages · about 5 min

Fifteen years on, a man returns to a hometown that has changed its face.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 4 min

A letter from her ten-year-old self reminds an office worker of a lost hobby.

Fiction · 14 sentences · about 4 min

On a forty-hour train to Kunming, a mother talks about the daughter she is surprising.

Fiction · 13 sentences · about 5 min

Why pandas are hard to save, and how reserves and breeding centres helped wild numbers recover.

Non-fiction · 16 sentences · about 6 min

How Zhang Qian's journeys opened routes west, and how goods, ideas and beliefs travelled along them.

Non-fiction · 15 sentences · about 6 min

How the Great Wall was built over many dynasties, what it was really for, and which sections to visit.

Non-fiction · 16 sentences · about 6 min

A young newcomer finds a slower life in an old Chengdu teahouse, and helps it stay itself.

Fiction · 16 sentences · about 6 min

Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder: how they were invented in China and changed the world.

Non-fiction · 16 sentences · about 6 min

A 2020 news report: UNESCO adds Singapore's hawker centres and street food to its intangible heritage list.

Non-fiction · 7 sentences · about 4 min

A February 2021 news report: after 202 days in space, China's first independent Mars probe goes into orbit.

Non-fiction · 11 sentences · about 5 min

A 2020 news report on China's second confirmed impact crater, and why Earth keeps so few of them.

Non-fiction · 7 sentences · about 5 min