Learning Chinese through Stories

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today's story is about a word that's been quietly spreading across the Chinese internet — 登. It's a slang term that's hard to translate directly, but you'll recognize the type of person it describes: someone who leans on their experience or status to tell others what to do, who'd rather lecture than listen, and who turns a conversation into a one-way street. It's not really about age. Plenty of young people get teased for having 登味 too — those moments when we catch ourselves being a little too rigid, or judging others by our own standards without realizing it. At its heart, this story is about how people communicate — and what it looks like when respect and curiosity replace authority and judgment. Swap "I want" for "what do you think," and "let me test you" for "teach me something" — and the world, as the author puts it, becomes a little bit better.

- Rui & Simeng

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Support Our Podcast

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today's story is about Cai Lei, a man who was diagnosed with ALS — known in Chinese as 渐冻症(jiàn dòng zhèng), literally "the freezing disease" — and chose not to quietly disappear. Before his diagnosis, he was a successful businessman. Afterward, he became something harder to define: a patient who threw himself into funding research, building platforms, pushing policy, and demanding that the world pay attention to a disease it had largely ignored. It's a story about what it looks like to face the unfaceable — not with grace, but with grit. - Rui & Simeng

************************************************************

Support Our Podcast

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

In this week's story walkthrough, we meet 杨先生 — a man who loved driving so much that he didn't hand over the keys until he was 85. Through a series of close calls on Hong Kong's narrow mountain passes, a near-disaster on 大帽山, and an ancient car that refused to retire, we get a window into a relationship built on adventure, laughter, and the kind of quiet courage that comes from trusting someone completely.

This walkthrough explores the story entirely in Chinese. Along the way, you'll pick up vocabulary like 如履薄冰, 硬着头皮, 心有余悸, and 初生牛犊不怕虎 — all in the context of real, memorable moments that make them easy to remember. 如履薄冰 — A one-lane road, no guardrails, a sheer drop on one side. No room to turn back. This is what 如履薄冰 feels like in real life.

硬着头皮 — Sometimes you're already halfway up the mountain before you realize you're terrified. That's exactly when you have to 硬着头皮 and keep going. 心有余悸 — She hit the accelerator instead of the brake. The car lurched toward the cliff. The people nearby screamed. Years later, she still feels it — 心有余悸. 初生牛犊不怕虎 — She had just gotten her license. He said: let's drive to the top of the mountain. She said yes. 初生牛犊不怕虎.

- Rui & Simeng

************************************************************

Support Our Podcast

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today's story is a memoir about Mr. Yang (Yang Zhenning), an elderly man who loved driving well into his eighties, and the writer (his wife) who eventually took over behind the wheel. It's full of small, vivid moments: driving on the wrong side of the road in Hong Kong, an air conditioner that died mid-mountain on a sweltering day, a terrifying near-miss on the edge of a cliff on Tai Mo Shan, and a stubborn old man who never seemed to worry about any of it.

But underneath the close calls and the laughs, there's something quieter going on — about getting older, about who takes the wheel when, and about the simple joy of exploring the hills and trails of Hong Kong together. It's a story about adventure, trust, and the kind of memories that get funnier the longer you carry them.

- Rui & Simeng ************************************************************

Support Our Podcast

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today's episode is about one of the most extraordinary athletes of our time — Shohei Ohtani. But we're not starting with his record-breaking stats or his World Series moments. We're going back much further than that — to a quiet town in Iwate, Japan, where a young boy would throw a baseball against a wall for hours, just to hear it bounce back. This story is told in natural, flowing Chinese, and it's a beautiful one. Let's get into it.

- Rui & Simeng ************************************************************

Support Our Podcast

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today's episode is about one of the most extraordinary athletes of our time — Shohei Ohtani. But we're not starting with his record-breaking stats or his World Series moments. We're going back much further than that — to a quiet town in Iwate, Japan, where a young boy would throw a baseball against a wall for hours, just to hear it bounce back. This story is told in natural, flowing Chinese, and it's a beautiful one. Let's get into it.

- Rui & Simeng

************************************************************

Support Our Podcast

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today, we're talking about something so many of us can relate to: tossing and turning in the middle of the night. We'll follow the story of Chen Mo. On paper, she has the perfect life—a high-level corporate job, a happy family, and a beautiful home. Even her bosses constantly praise her. Yet, sleep completely evades her.

After ruling out all the usual suspects like grief, job insecurity, or family drama, a breakthrough with a therapist reveals a hidden culprit. It turns out, her biggest stressor isn't her actual workload, but her own relentless perfectionism and the exhausting, self-imposed pressure to be flawless.

Let's dive into her story, explore this modern dilemma, and learn some great vocabulary along the way!

************************************************************

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today, we're talking about something so many of us can relate to: tossing and turning in the middle of the night. We'll follow the story of Chen Mo. On paper, she has the perfect life—a high-level corporate job, a happy family, and a beautiful home. Even her bosses constantly praise her. Yet, sleep completely evades her.

After ruling out all the usual suspects like grief, job insecurity, or family drama, a breakthrough with a therapist reveals a hidden culprit. It turns out, her biggest stressor isn't her actual workload, but her own relentless perfectionism and the exhausting, self-imposed pressure to be flawless.

Let's dive into her story, explore this modern dilemma, and learn some great vocabulary along the way!

************************************************************

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today, we're talking about champion diver Quan Hongchan. While fans celebrated her recent gold medal, many noticed how visibly thin she's become. Behind her flawless dives is a grueling, almost heartbreaking battle with the scale.

We'll explore the extreme discipline required to stay at the top at just 17 years old—like stressing over 50 grams of water and giving up everyday joys like fried chicken or a simple sip of cola. But this isn't just a sports story. It's a relatable reflection on how we so often tie our own self-worth to numbers, and a gentle reminder to appreciate the simple freedoms we take for granted. Rui & Simeng

************************************************************

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency.

Today, we're talking about champion diver Quan Hongchan. While fans celebrated her recent gold medal, many noticed how visibly thin she's become. Behind her flawless dives is a grueling, almost heartbreaking battle with the scale.

We'll explore the extreme discipline required to stay at the top at just 17 years old—like stressing over 50 grams of water and giving up everyday joys like fried chicken or a simple sip of cola. But this isn't just a sports story. It's a relatable reflection on how we so often tie our own self-worth to numbers, and a gentle reminder to appreciate the simple freedoms we take for granted. Rui & Simeng

************************************************************

Support Our Podcast → https://www.patreon.com/learningchinesethroughstories

If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us keep creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $9 a month. As a patron, you'll enjoy:

* ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience

* 📜 Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts

* 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists

* 📖 Our LCTS Favorites ebook + RealLife Chinese for Beginners podcast

* 💬 Our members' Discord community + a monthly study challenge

* 🎥 Monthly live meetup with us (一份火锅 tier)

Not ready to join? Our free Discord is open to every listener — come say hi!

💬 Join our free community on Discord → https://discord.gg/km3GgzCe3J

Your support means the world to us and lets us keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for being part of our community! 💖 — LCTS

************************************************************

Check out our playlists on Spotify

Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist

Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist

Chinese for Advanced-Playlist

Chinese for Superior- Playlist

Chinese for Beginners-Playlist