About ChineseLearner.com
The most useful free Chinese learning toolkit on the internet.
That's a bold claim. Here's why we make it: most Chinese learning resources on the internet are either too academic (designed around old HSK textbooks), too gamified (optimised for streaks, not fluency), or simply ignore the 50 million heritage learners worldwide who already speak Chinese but never learned to read it.
ChineseLearner.com is built for all three groups — and designed to treat each one differently.
Three things that set us apart
1. New HSK 3.0 — while everyone else is still on the old version
The HSK exam was completely redesigned in 2021. Six levels became nine. Vocabulary lists were overhauled. Most Chinese learning sites haven't updated. We have. Every HSK word list and exam guide on this site reflects the current 2021 standard — the one you'll actually sit.
2. Heritage learner first
If you grew up speaking Mandarin or Cantonese at home but never learned to read or write it properly, you're not a beginner. You're an intermediate speaker with a literacy gap — and that calls for a completely different learning path. We're one of the only major Chinese learning sites with a dedicated Heritage section that treats this as the distinct challenge it is.
3. Free, forever — for the core content
We don't paywall vocabulary lists or grammar guides. The basic tools that every learner needs should be free. We make money through affiliate recommendations (products we genuinely use and trust) and optional exam prep subscriptions for people who want structured, timed practice. Core content: always free.
What's here
How we think about learning Chinese
We have strong opinions on comprehensible input, why pinyin is a crutch, and how heritage learners should approach literacy differently.
Read our learning philosophy →Get in touch
Spotted an error? Have a suggestion? Teaching Chinese and want to collaborate? Email us at [email protected]