Listen · Read · Use it
Clear, story-led Chinese with Xiaoyue. Read every line at your own pace.
54 published lessons
I Missed My Stop! 🚌 Slow Chinese Story | 坐过站了
One cute kitten, a few phone messages... and Xiaoyue misses her bus stop! Follow her small adventure in this slow HSK 2-3 Chinese story. Practice asking for directions, checking your bus route, and finding your way back, with Chinese, pinyin and English on screen.
Locked Out! 🔑 Slow Chinese Story | 忘带钥匙了
What should you do when your keys are inside and you are stuck outside? Follow Xiaoyue through an unexpected lockout in this slow, natural HSK 2-3 Chinese story. Learn how to ask for help, contact a locksmith, and avoid the same mistake next time.
Borrowing Books at a Chinese Library 📚 | 去图书馆借书
How do you borrow and return books at a library in China? Follow Xiaoyue on a quiet afternoon trip to her local library in this slow, natural HSK 2-3 Chinese story. She plans to borrow only two books—but somehow leaves with six!
After my phone fell on the floor
A dropped phone goes black. Follow Xiaoyue as she handles an order, asks about repairs and protects her photos.
Sick in China? Go Here First 💊 | 去药店买药 | Simply Natural Chinese
Xiao Yue has a cold, and she does not go to the hospital. She goes downstairs, walks three minutes, and buys what she needs under a glowing green cross. This episode is the one errand every visitor to China ends up running sooner or later: why you can buy most medicine with no prescription at all, and the handful of short sentences that get you helped in thirty seconds. You will also hear the question that surprises everyone at the counter — Chinese medicine or Western medicine? — how to catch a spoken dosage, and the one thing a pharmacy will never do for you. Slow, clear Mandarin the whole way, with Chinese, Pinyin and English subtitles on screen together.
Why China Shuts Down at Noon 😴 | 午睡 | Simply Natural Chinese
At half past twelve Xiao Yue turns the little wooden sign on her shop door over to the side that says 休息中 — on a break — and goes to the back room to sleep. This episode is about the one hour of the Chinese day that surprises visitors most: why the bank, the noodle place and the corner shop all go quiet at noon, why the habit starts in a primary school classroom with the lights off and forty children asleep on their desks, and why your Chinese friend did not pick up when you called at one o'clock. You will also get the practical version — how long a nap should actually be, what every Chinese mother says about covering your stomach, and why coffee sells best in her shop between half past one and half past two. Slow, clear Mandarin the whole way, with Chinese, Pinyin and English subtitles on screen together.
Shopping at a Chinese Market 🥬 | 去菜市场买菜 | Simply Natural Chinese
Three mornings a week Xiao Yue leaves the house at six thirty, and she does not go to a supermarket. This episode follows one shopping run through an ordinary Chinese indoor food market: the cloth bag she never leaves without, the wall of noise and smell as she walks in, Uncle Wang at the egg stall, the one sentence you genuinely need in order to buy anything, and the moment the fruit seller hands her a strawberry and says try it. You will hear how prices actually work here, why nobody says kilo, when it is fine to ask for a better price and when it is not, how a QR code has replaced cash at almost every stall, and why Auntie Zhang drops a free bunch of spring onions into the bag. Slow, clear Mandarin the whole way through, with Chinese, Pinyin and English subtitles on screen together.
A Lazy Sunday in China 🧺 | 我的周末 | Simply Natural Chinese
One day a week, Xiao Yue does not open the shop and does not set an alarm. This is that day, start to finish: the cat arriving on the bed to demand breakfast, ten more minutes with the phone, and then the moment every Chinese person recognises — you pull the curtains open, the sky is completely clear, and one thought lands: today I have to air the quilts. She hangs them over the balcony railing, pats them, and shows you the whole compound doing exactly the same thing, quilts on every balcony and one strung between two trees downstairs. Noodles at half past ten that are neither breakfast nor lunch, all the housework done by noon, a friend over at two with a bag of fruit because nobody turns up empty-handed, and at dusk the quilts come back in still warm, smelling of the sun. Spoken slowly and clearly, with Chinese, Pinyin and English on screen the whole time.
Ordering Food in China: The Waiter Is Waiting 🥢 | 在饭馆点菜 | Simply Natural Chinese
You sit down, the server walks straight over, and just stands there. No going away and coming back later, no five quiet minutes with the menu — she is right at your elbow with a pen, waiting. That single moment is where most learners freeze. Dessert-shop owner Xiao Yue takes you through one ordinary lunch out with a friend and gives you the sentence that buys you time, the reason nobody brings you rice unless you ask, the three spice levels you have to be able to say out loud, why shouting across the room is completely polite here, the three different words for the bill and which region uses which, and why two friends will physically fight over paying it. She also boxes up the leftovers at the end, because in China that is the normal thing to do. Spoken slowly and clearly, with Chinese, Pinyin and English on screen the whole time.
Why Chinese People Always Drink Hot Water 🍵 | 喝热水 | Simply Natural Chinese
Ask for water in China and what arrives is hot. Order it in summer, order it with a cold, order it at thirty degrees outside — still hot. Almost every learner notices this in their first week and nobody ever explains it. Dessert-shop owner Xiao Yue walks you through one ordinary day with her flask: the glass of warm water before she even looks at her phone, the four different words for water that all translate as water in English, what a waiter actually brings you if you just say give me a glass of water, the pot of hot tea that lands on your table before you have ordered anything, why people in the south rinse their cups and chopsticks with it, the four words every Chinese person will text you when you say you feel unwell, and the goji berries floating in her mother's cup all year round. She also tells you exactly how to ask for ice. Spoken slowly and clearly, with Chinese, Pinyin and English on screen the whole time.
Paying With Your Phone in China 📱 | 手机支付 | Simply Natural Chinese
She left the house without her wallet and didn't worry for a second. In China you can get through an entire day — breakfast, the metro, lunch with a friend, a bike home — without touching a single note of cash, and almost nobody explains how it actually works until you're standing at a stall with your phone out. Dessert-shop owner Xiao Yue walks you through her whole day: the black-and-white square on the counter, the two different QR codes (and which one you scan), the line every shop owner will say to you, the little speaker that announces every payment out loud, splitting lunch by transfer, red packets with lucky numbers, and unlocking a shared bike on the way home. She also tells you the two things that can still go wrong. Spoken slowly and clearly, with Chinese, Pinyin and English on screen the whole time.
Picking Up a Parcel in China 📦 | 收快递 | Simply Natural Chinese
Your phone buzzes: your parcel has arrived. In China that one text message starts a whole little routine that nobody teaches you — and it isn't the courier knocking on your door. Dessert-shop owner Xiao Yue has three parcels waiting, so she takes you down to the smart lockers, punches in the pickup code, and then walks to the parcel station at the gate where the two bigger boxes were left. Back upstairs she can't find the scissors, opens the tape with her door key, and her cat Xiao Hua claims the empty box before Xiao Yue can even unpack the new cat bed she bought her. One parcel turns out to be the wrong colour and a size too big — which is how you learn the seven-day no-questions-asked return. Spoken slowly and clearly, with Chinese, Pinyin and English on screen the whole time.