Stories & guides
Read your way into the characters
The character pages are the reference; these are the reading. Short guides and stories for learners, parents and teachers — each one ends in characters you can look up, write, and print.
-
7 Chinese characters that are still drawings — the fastest win for day-one learners Seven of the oldest characters in the script still look like what they draw. Learn these seven on day one and you have proof, in your own handwriting, that characters are not random. 7 characters to print -
Why 家 has a pig under a roof — 5 characters that tell you how ancient China actually lived A pig under a roof means home. A woman under a roof means peace. Five everyday characters that are really tiny documentaries about how people lived, worked and hoped three thousand years ago. 5 characters to print -
The 12 radicals that unlock 500 characters — and the order to learn them in A radical is a meaning tag hiding inside a character. Learn these twelve and you can make a real guess at hundreds of characters you have never seen before. 12 characters to print -
Dragon, phoenix, turtle: 4 things to check before you get a Chinese tattoo A character tattoo is permanent; a bad one is permanently embarrassing. Four checks that take twenty minutes and save you from the tattoo-fail gallery. 4 characters to print -
HSK 1 in stories — 150 characters grouped so they remember each other HSK 1 is 150 characters. Learned as an alphabetical list it is a chore; learned in story families it is five small worlds. Here is the grouping, and the free practice sheets to write each one. 10 characters to print -
5 character pairs every learner mixes up — and the one-line trick for each 人 and 入, 未 and 末, 刀 and 力: five pairs that look identical at speed, with a one-line trick for each so you never swap them again. 10 characters to print