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Guides and honest comparisons for learning Chinese: which tools are worth your time, how characters are built, and what actually makes vocabulary stick.
Why learn Chinese? 8 reasons worth the effort
Over a billion speakers, the world’s second-largest economy, travel, culture and words you can take apart, and an honest look at what makes Chinese hard and what makes it easy.
What is the HSK? The new exam’s nine levels, explained
The new HSK launches on 13 December 2026: what each of its nine levels asks for, from 300 words to 11,000, what changed from the old exam, and how to register.
Do you really need to write Chinese characters?
Pinyin and seeing characters often get you through the first weeks. After that, writing them from memory is the most reliable way to keep lookalikes apart, and it teaches the parts that give characters their meaning and sound.
Simplified vs traditional Chinese: which should you learn?
What the difference is, how many people use each script (about 98% simplified, 2% traditional), and how much really changes between them.
The 100 most common Chinese characters
All 100 in order, with pinyin and meaning, counted from 33 billion characters of real Chinese. Together they cover 40% of everyday text.
The Chinese characters beginners mix up most
The HSK 1 words learners get wrong most, in meaning, writing and pinyin, from thousands of learners’ reviews, and how to tell them apart.
New HSK 2 word list: all 200 words
Every word the new HSK exam adds at HSK 2, with pinyin, part of speech and meaning, and what changed from the old HSK 2 list.
New HSK 3 word list: all 500 words
Every word the new HSK exam adds at HSK 3, with pinyin, part of speech and meaning, and what changed from the old HSK 3 list.
New HSK 1 word list: all 300 words
Every word the new HSK exam sets for HSK 1, with pinyin, part of speech and meaning, and what changed from the old list.
HSK 1 grammar: all 70 points of the new exam, with examples
Every grammar point the new HSK exam’s syllabus sets for HSK 1, grouped the way the syllabus groups them, each with its structure and an example sentence.
How many Chinese characters are there, and how many do you need?
Over 100,000 exist, and 8,105 are on China’s official list for modern use. We counted 33 billion characters: 1,000 cover 89% of everyday text.
The best apps to learn Chinese in 2026
Seven apps compared, with picks for the best overall, the best dictionary, speaking practice and reading past HSK 1. Every pick, ours included, gets its flaws listed.