maayot | Learn Mandarin Chinese with Stories

The topic of “should we follow our interest and make it as our profession” is a cliché that frequently been discussed as it is a question that almost all of us have faced. Without any doubt, with int…

Listening carefully to others is not a difficult thing to do, but many people tend to ignore the messages others send to us. In today’s story, our protagonists are two friends, one of them created a …

Mapo tofu is a very famous and popular dish in Sichuan cuisine. The character “po”in Chinese refers old woman or mother in law. People may wonder why this dish was named after an old woman. In today’…

In some places of Fujian and Guangdong, there are many residential buildings with unique shapes. From the outside, they look like blockhouses. They are typical and unique residential buildings in Chi…

In Chinese, people use Mr. Dongguo to describe people who are too kind and Zhongshan Wolf to describe people who are ungrateful. Those two terms are originated from a fable story of ancient China. To…

The criteria to evaluate people is a very broad topic and difficult to come up with a conclusion. In today’s story, we are going to discuss the standard of a good man. We will see why it is difficult…

Pagoda tree is also known as Chinese scholar tree. It is a very common tree species in China, especially in northern China. To Chinese people, the pagoda tree is a plant that has both practical and c…

In traditional Chinese values, it is the family concept that the man goes out to work while the woman looks after the house. But for Shanghai local people , it may be an exception. In today’s story, …

In China, the tiger is known as the King of the forest, while the fox is known for its crafty. What happens when these two animals meet? In today’s story, we are going to learn a Chinese idiom, which…

Golf has become synonymous with fashion and high-end activity. In fact, many sports activities have social attributes. In today’s story, we are going to look at n ancient Chinese sport activity-- Chu…

As many people know, Chinese people have two ages, one is nominal year of age and the other is called full year of age.  Even for some Chinese people, they are not sure how to calculate the nominal y…

There is a Chinese saying goes "Seeing is believing." No matter how much we thought we know about a place without actually visiting there, as long as we arrive at the place, we could find some differ…

Noodles are popular staple food for Chinese people no matter in the southern or northern regions of China. In each province, they have their own way cook noodles. In today’s story, we are going to lo…

When our friends invite us coming over to their house for lunch or dinner, we often try to be as helpful as we can as a guest. In today’s story, our protagonist recounted her experiences of coming ov…

The Chinese unicorn is a sacred animal and represent propitious in Chinese mythology. For thousands years, people have had various imaginations about what the unicorn looks like. According to a liter…

Sima Guang was a famous historian in Chinese history. His major achievement was writing a history book of China called “History As A Mirror”. The book is an important reference for future generations…

Nowadays, e-payment has provided great convenience to us, and saves us a lot of time to withdraw money from the bank. But for some business, we still have to go to the bank. In today’s story, we are …

It may sounds very strange to link the word “quality” with human in Chinese. So when someone calls himself as a high quality male of human being, it would get people's attention. In today’s story, we…

In modern society, the tuition fees we paid for our schooling is accounted in currency. In ancient China, there are various form of “tuition fees” through different period of time. In today’s story, …

Autumn is an ideal season for outdoor activities, such as hiking, and mountain climbing etc. In today’s story, we are going to climb up to Huong Son, which is the most famous mountain in Beijing. The…