
Explore the origin of Chinese characters as a pictorial language, tracing their evolution from pictures to characters, with radicals, phonetic components, and real-world usage examples.
David Yao outlines his founder's approach to teaching Chinese, blending video lessons with teacher explanations and a lego-like building blocks method to teach grammar and speaking for HSK 1-2.
Explore the most common 20 Chinese radicals that form the core of characters; learn their meanings and components to guess many words, covering about 51 percent of characters.
Explore the origin and meanings of the Chinese character 一 (yī), including traditional vs simplified forms, radical use, and the readings 'one' and 'single'.
Explore the origin of Chinese characters with a focus on the numeral two, through the characters 二, 贰, and èr (two).
Origin of Chinese characters is explained through the three forms of 'three'—三, 叁, 仨 (sān)—and how three strokes convey the concept for HSK 1–2 learners.
Explore the origin of the Chinese character for four (四 sì) and its role in writing and numerals, illustrated through practical examples and writing practice.
Explore the origin of Chinese characters through the five elements concept, linking colors and the universe to Chinese philosophy. Learn how elements relate to internal organs in Chinese medicine.
Explore the origin of the Chinese character six (六 liù) and its cultural associations, including six terms, six emotions, and six ceremonies in traditional life.
Explore the origin of Chinese characters and how the motif of seven appears in examples, showing how characters are formed from lines and then put together.
Explore the origin of Chinese characters with a focus on eight (bā) and its pictorial stories, including Bagua, to reveal meanings behind traditional forms.
Trace the origin of Chinese characters through the jiǔ nine, exploring its many meanings and connections to numbers, the book of changes, and symbols of the Forbidden City.
Explore the origin of Chinese characters with a focus on the character 十 (shí) meaning ten, its topmost form, and practical usage in counting.
Trace the origin of the Chinese character 日 as sun, day, and daily life, and explore its strokes and sun-related compounds.
Discover how the Chinese character 月 originated as a moon and month symbol, and how its strokes and pictorial roots connect to the year and even body parts.
Explore the origin of Chinese characters through the character 明, meaning bright and clear, formed by sun and moon, and its uses in brightness, clarity, vision, and understanding.
Discover the origin of Chinese characters through the water radical shuǐ, learn how rivers and water-related concepts shape character meanings, and see examples from daily life.
Explore the origin of the Chinese character 火 huǒ, linking its meaning to fire, anger, and temper, and see how fiery imagery and hot, burning connotations shape its use.
Explore the origin and meaning of the Chinese character 山 (shān) as hill or mountain, and its role in traditional painting and Chinese scenery.
Master the character 石 (shí), meaning stone or rock, with its use in stone inscriptions, radicals, and related HSK 1 vocabulary through practical examples.
Learn the meaning and radical of tián, the HSK 1 character for field; explore its use in paddy fields, farmland, and rice field contexts.
Explore the Chinese character 土 (tǔ) meaning soil, earth, and land, its radical usage, and how it conveys country, territory, and local land concepts in basic Hanzi for HSK 1–2.
Explore the meaning of 人 (ren) as human being, person, and people in HSK 1, and examine how humanity, nature, and harmony shape everyday language and concepts.
Explore the Chinese character 大 (dà): meaning big, large, or great, its use as a radical, and the range of meanings from heavy or powerful to everyday contexts.
Explore the Chinese character 天 (tiān), meaning sky, heaven, and day, and how it links nature, weather, seasons, and human beliefs about gods and spirituality.
Explore the Chinese character 木 (mù), its meanings as tree and wood, and its use as a radical across nouns, timber, and carpentry contexts in HSK 1.
Explore the Chinese character 禾, meaning seedling of cereal crops. See how it relates to planting and growing cereal crops, such as rice.
Unlock the meaning of 米 (mǐ) for HSK 1, linking rice and metre concepts, and practice related vocabulary through cooking rice and common phrases.
Explore the chinese character 来 (lái) meaning come and arrive, and its multiple meanings in phrases and sentences. Learn to recognize usage nuances for HSK 1–2 vocabulary.
Learn the hanzi 上 (shàng) meaning go up and upward, including above and top; explore examples like going up stairs, boarding a bus or plane, and reaching the summit.
Learn how the Chinese character 中 expresses middle and center in HSK 1 contexts, including standard pronunciation, dialects like Cantonese, and central government usage.
this lesson explains 下 (xià), meaning down, under, or below, and its versatile uses in phrases like downstairs, under leadership, and below zero.
Explore 小 (xiǎo) and its meanings—small, little, and young—in the HSK 1 context, with usage examples and gendered nuances.
Explore the Chinese character 马 (mǎ) for HSK 1, its pronunciation, meanings, and horse-related vocabulary and idioms, with guidance for building essential Chinese vocabulary and historical usage.
Introduce the Chinese character niu (牛) meaning cow or ox, and explore related vocabulary such as milk, beef, and phrases for newborn baby.
Explore the character 羊 (yang) meaning sheep or goat in HSK 1, with horn imagery, related words and phrases, and the wolf in sheep's clothing example.
Learn the character 虫 (chóng) for insect or worm, including reading, common forms, and how terms relate to pests and parasites in everyday Chinese for HSK 1–2.
Learn essential Chinese fish vocabulary for HSK 1-2, including words for fish, fishing gear, and related phrases, with examples from everyday conversations.
Explore the Chinese character for bird (niao) in HSK 1 and its picture-based vocabulary and sentence formation. The lecture outlines exam levels from 1 to 6 for foreign learners.
Learn the Chinese character 口 (kou), meaning mouth and entrance, including its three strokes and pictorial origin, and see how it appears in basic HSK 1 vocabulary.
Learn the chinese character 耳 (ěr) meaning ear, its pronunciation, and ear-related vocabulary in HSK 1 context, with visual cues and practical listening examples.
Discover the Chinese character 目 (mù), meaning eye or item, its radical and stroke patterns, and how it appears in early HSK 1–2 vocabulary while practicing recognition and reading.
Learn the HSK 1 chinese character tóu meaning head, top, and end. Explore its use for beginnings and endings, plus links to head, chief, and leader.
Explore the Chinese character hand (手, shou) and its meanings through gestures like grabbing, carrying, and offering. See how these examples connect to HSK 1-2 vocabulary and everyday actions.
Explore 足 (zú), the Chinese character for foot, and its meanings of enough and ample. See how footprint and barefoot appear in sentences to express adequacy.
Explore the HSK 1 character 刀 (dāo) meaning knife or sword, its pictograph form and edge imagery, and how to express cutting concepts and line drawing in Chinese.
Discover 弓 (gōng), the bow, for HSK 1 in this course titled Chinese characters you must know for HSK 1-2 volume 1.
Explore the Chinese character 车 (chē), meaning vehicle or car, through its pictorial form and related transport vocabulary for HSK 1. This lesson covers cars, bicycles, and other vehicles.
Learn the Chinese character mén, meaning door, gate, and entrance, in HSK 1, with practical examples and daily life usage.
Learn the Chinese character 东 (dōng) for east, its pronunciation dōng, and its use in HSK 1, with context connecting east and the orient.
Learn the Chinese character 南 (nán) meaning south for HSK 1, and explore its use in South China and related geographic terms.
Learn the Chinese character 西 (xī), meaning west, and its use in HSK 1 contexts, including the western hemisphere and the journey to the west.
Master the HSK 1 character 北 (běi), meaning north, and its common usage in simple phrases. Explore examples like Beijing and the north pole to reinforce recognition and pronunciation.
New updates in Version 2020:
- All Chinese Characters and its related vocabulary expansion will be edited into PDF book, share in Udemy courses and sell in Amazon KDP, Google books and iBooks. We find the best way to publish online. (
Chinese is a pictorial language and is the only Language which has no Alphabet. Chinese Characters originated from picture. According legend, Cang Jie (仓颉) created Chinese Characters or scripts. Inspired by the trace of bird and animal, he created Chinese Characters or scripts by observing the nature shape such as Sun, moon, wood. Around one third of the total population on the earth are still using Chinese Characters. The creation and evolution of Chinese Characters is closely interwoven with the development of Chinese Culture and has long lasting impact on Japan, Korean, Vietnam, and Thailand... etc.
Chinese Characters are an important tool for extending, spreading and exchanging idea. Chinese Characters contain information and will never be replaced by Alphabet in other languages.
It is a daunting challenge to foreigner as well as native Chinese. But good news for you, we have secrets to share with you how to study Chinese in a smarter way:
Guessing! Guessing by Chinese Radicals. There are around 220 Chinese Radicals in my collections. But the Most Common 20 Chinese Radicals which account 51% of total Chinese Characters.
We will arrange the Chinese Radicals according their importance and give you the most important 60 Chinese Radicals in 3 courses.
Overall, there will be two series to cover Chinese Radicals and boost your vocabulary.
1 HSK Reading Skills-Guess by Chinese Radicals, Quick View
2 HSK Reading Skills-Guess by Chinese Radicals in Details
Quick View of Chinese Radicals will give you a big picture of Chinese Characters, something like a key to open the treasure.
HSK Reading Skills-Guess by Chinese Radicals in details
We will explain Chinese Radicals with the most common Chinese Characters in HSK 1 - 6 (Chinese Proficiency Test Level 1-6).
After boot camping of Chinese Characters, we will test your understanding by reading quiz.
In each video, there is a section call "Vocabulary Builder", which is our many years’ effort in Chinese teaching as a secondary language.
The main features of "Vocabulary Builder" are:
1 The best possible English translations. The English translation is referring to Oxford Dictionary and other online dictionaries. Clear English translation is SO important for foreigner students to learn Chinese.
Each Character and even phrases may have many meanings. Accurate English translation will give you a crystal clear view on Chinese phrases.
2 Up-to-date and updating. We have go thought the whole Oxford Dictionary and other recourses to collect more than 60,000 phrases with the best translation possible for our reference in editing materials.
We are updating more than 5000 new phrases into our collections to reflect the ever-never fast changing China.
3 Indicating the difficulty level of Phrase according to HSK levels.
You will not see such Classifications in any other dictionaries. Our unique classification provides a framework for selecting of articles. Choosing material suitable for students’ level and evaluate their progress is an Art of teaching.
4 The most important thing is the Vocabulary Builder.
This is more than just a vocabulary list. It is a Language Builder based on the Chinese language’s special features and our 25 years' experience.
The Vocabulary Builder will find and list out the connections among Chinese Characters, expand into more phrases. We will use sentence to show how to use the new phrase in context, to point out the common booby trap.
Vocabulary Builder actually is our natural process of Language Building.