Chinese Short Dialogue | 听中文会话 | 中国語リスニング

Three idioms containing the word “horse” used in New Year messages and their real-life significance.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

刘娜: Xiao Pan, did you watch the 2026 New Year message? It mentioned three idioms with the word “horse” that caught a lot of attention.
小潘: I did, teacher! They were “跃马扬鞭”, “万马奔腾”, and “马不停蹄”, but I don’t really understand their deeper meanings.
刘娜: Good, this is a great chance to learn idioms. “跃马扬鞭” originally described mounting a horse and setting off, and now it often means taking initiative and not fearing difficulties.
小潘: That sounds powerful. I’m thinking of young people in China returning to their hometowns to start businesses—would that be an example of “跃马扬鞭”?
刘娜: Yes, that’s very fitting. What about “万马奔腾”? Literally it means many horses running together, and now it often refers to people working together with great momentum.
小潘: I see, it’s a bit like villages in China developing their economy together. I think the collective spirit is very important.
刘娜: Well said. The last one is “马不停蹄”. It’s not about exhausting yourself, but about moving forward with a clear goal. In ancient poetry, horses were often used to express ambition.
小潘: I understand now. These idioms are very old, but they still encourage people to move forward today. That’s the wisdom of Chinese culture.

Xiaobao and Xiaomei have a contest to see whose expressions are more fun. They make funny faces at each other.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

小美: Xiaobao, let’s have an expression contest!
小宝: Sure! I can make a smiling face. Look!
小美: Haha, your smile looks like a little cat!
小宝: I can also make a crying face. Like this—boo hoo hoo.
小美: Look at me, I can make a scared face. Ah, so scary!
小宝: My angry face is the best. Look, hmph!
小美: Haha, your face is really funny!
小宝: You’re fun too! We’re both expression masters!

A 90-year-old grandma insists on eating onions, and her good health sparks curiosity.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

小宝: Brother, I saw online today that there’s a grandma who eats onions every day, and she’s still very healthy at ninety!
小刚: Yeah, she’s been eating onions for over forty years. She’s in great shape and even walks very fast.
小宝: Wow, are onions really that amazing? Are they like a “superfood”?
小刚: Onions are good for you, but the most important thing is that she stuck with it every day and ate a very light diet.
小宝: Then I want to eat onions too! I want to become strong!
小刚: Sure, but eat a small amount and take it slowly. Some people might get a stomach ache.
小宝: I see. Then let’s make onion scrambled eggs today!
小刚: Sounds good. Simple, tasty, and it counts as learning about “affordable healthy living.”

陈花 and 刘娜 discuss “passive listening”—whether playing Japanese radio or music while doing other things, like housework or driving, actually helps with learning Japanese.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

陈花: 刘娜, I’ve been playing Japanese radio while driving lately to try this “passive listening” method. Do you think it works?
刘娜: The effectiveness of passive listening is actually debated. If Japanese is just background noise and you’re not focusing on understanding it, the effect is indeed limited. Like you said, it’s hard to really remember what you hear.
陈花: Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about too. A lot of the time I have no idea what they’re talking about.
刘娜: According to second language acquisition theory, effective language input has to be “comprehensible input.” In other words, what you hear needs to be within your range of understanding for your brain to absorb it effectively. If you’re just listening to a bunch of things you completely don’t understand, the effect is definitely not as good as focused study.
陈花: So what should I do then? I can’t stay fully focused on studying all the time—and I can’t exactly stare at a textbook while driving!
刘娜: I’d suggest listening to things you’ve already studied, like the audio from Japanese TV dramas or movies you’ve watched. That way, even if you don’t understand every word, you can still recall the plot, it won’t feel too boring, and your brain will subconsciously process the language again and deepen your impression.
陈花: That’s a great idea! I’ve been watching a Japanese drama recently—I can try downloading it and listening to the audio.
刘娜: Exactly. Or you could listen to Japanese songs and hum along. That helps you get familiar with pronunciation and intonation, and you can learn some new vocabulary too. The key is finding a method that suits you and practicing consistently to really improve your Japanese.

In their first Chinese class, 刘娜 and 俊熙 from Korea get to know each other, introduce themselves briefly, and talk about their goals for learning Chinese.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

刘娜: Hello, I'm 刘娜. You can call me Teacher 刘. Today is our first lesson.
俊熙: Hello, Teacher 刘! My name is 李俊熙. You can call me 俊熙.
刘娜: 俊熙, that's a very nice name! Where are you from?
俊熙: I'm Korean, from Seoul.
刘娜: Welcome to learning Chinese! Why do you want to study Chinese?
俊熙: Because I want to become a fashion and beauty content creator in China and chat naturally with my followers.
刘娜: I see! Then we can practice lots of speaking and trendy expressions.
俊熙: That's great! What I want to learn most is natural and fun ways of expressing myself.
刘娜: No problem. We'll take it step by step. Today we'll start with simple self-introductions.
俊熙: Okay, teacher, I'm ready!

Technological progress is reshaping employment patterns and logistics efficiency, prompting deeper reflection.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

赵强: I watched 刘强东’s speech in Wuzhen. He said that in the future employees might work only one day a week, or even just one hour. Do you think that’s realistic?
黄刚: It sounds a bit exaggerated, but his point that robots can free people from heavy labor isn’t surprising. JD.com is even planning to build the world’s first unmanned delivery station next year.
赵强: Drones above, unmanned vehicles below, and robotic arms in the middle doing fully automated loading—it feels like a sci-fi movie. Even in my marketing department, I can feel automation speeding up.
黄刚: But he also mentioned that solid-state batteries aren’t mature yet—low yield rates and poor low-temperature performance. If these issues aren’t solved, full-scale robot adoption will still take time.
赵强: Still, if social logistics costs can really be reduced from 14% to under 10% as he said, that would be a clear case of cost reduction and efficiency gains for companies. With higher profits, job types will also change.
黄刚: Yes, maybe future ‘office workers’ will mainly monitor equipment and do simple maintenance—jobs that are ‘easy but require thinking.’ As the saying goes in China, ‘skills never weigh you down,’ and digital skills seem even more important now.
赵强: But shorter working hours aren’t necessarily all good. If efficiency rises and competition gets fiercer, won’t people feel even more anxious?
黄刚: In the end, it comes down to systems and distribution. If technology truly brings society into a positive cycle and gives people more time freedom, it may actually help them think about what kind of life they want to live.

Xiaobao finds a coin on the road. After picking it up, he and Xiaomei think together about what to do.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

小宝: Xiaomei, I found a coin on the road.
小美: Really? Where did you find it?
小宝: Under a tree. It’s a one-yuan coin.
小美: Wow, then what are you going to do?
小宝: I don’t know. Can I take it home?
小美: Maybe someone else dropped it.
小宝: Then what should I do?
小美: We can give it to the teacher and ask the teacher to help find the owner.
小宝: Good idea! Let’s go find the teacher together.
小美: Let’s go! The teacher will definitely know what to do.

New national standards limit food delivery riders’ working hours and require mandatory breaks.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

小宝: Why is today’s food delivery so slow? I’m really hungry.
小刚: Maybe the delivery rider is taking a break. The new rules say they have to stop for twenty minutes after working continuously for four hours.
小宝: Why is that? Don’t they want to deliver faster?
小刚: It’s for safety. If they get too tired, it can be dangerous—just like how we need to rest after walking for a long time.
小宝: Oh, then how long do they work each day?
小刚: Usually no more than eight hours, and platforms aren’t allowed to force overtime through incentives.
小宝: I see. Then it’s okay if we wait a bit—let the delivery guy have a rest.
小刚: That’s right. Caring about others is also a small kind of kindness.

Giant pandas living in Japan will return to China, stirring feelings of reluctance among Japanese fans.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

刘娜: Yuko, have you heard? Japan’s last two giant pandas will return to China next year.
优子: What? Really? I like them so much. I’ve seen them many times at Ueno Zoo.
刘娜: Yes, their loan period has ended, so it’s normal for them to go home. Many countries do the same.
优子: But Japan might not be able to see giant pandas anymore. That makes me a bit sad.
刘娜: I understand. Giant pandas are like friendly little ambassadors. When China–Japan relations are good, there’s more exchange.
优子: I see. I hope the relationship between the two countries will get even better, so there will be another chance to see them.
刘娜: There definitely will be. You can also come to China to see pandas. You’re very welcome.
优子: That’s great! I must go and see the real ‘national treasure’.

Exploring the economic, medical, and cultural reasons behind Guangdong’s rising birth rate despite national decline.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

黄刚: Hua, did you see this year’s data? Of all the newborns nationwide, one out of every nine was born in Guangdong—really eye-catching.
陈花: I saw it too! With birth rates so low nationwide, the fact that Guangdong has stayed No. 1 for seven consecutive years is truly remarkable.
黄刚: The main reason is its strong economy. Guangdong has led GDP rankings for more than thirty years, with higher income and more job opportunities, so young people are willing to stay.
陈花: And the medical resources are great. There are over a hundred top-tier hospitals, and mothers from other provinces can enjoy the same level of care, making childbirth more reassuring.
黄刚: Yes, and there are cultural factors. In the Chaoshan region, the idea that ‘more children bring more blessings’ is still common. Shenzhen even offers subsidies for second children. Traditional values and modern policies reinforce each other.
陈花: What I find most interesting is the phenomenon of ‘factory-area babies’ and ‘dual-city parenting’. It shows that young people don’t refuse to have children—they just need the right conditions.
黄刚: Exactly. Guangdong has become a model for the whole country: birth rates don’t rise by slogans but by creating a supportive environment.
陈花: I hope other places can learn the essence of this, so people not only want to have children but can also afford to raise them well.