What is The Chairman's Bao?
The Chairman's Bao is a UK-based graded reader for Mandarin. Every day it publishes short news articles rewritten for different HSK-based levels, from beginner to beyond HSK 6, each with native audio.
Tapping a word shows pinyin, meaning and HSK level, and you can save it to your flashcards. Articles list grammar points and keywords and come with exercises. There are also “Legends” stories about traditional tales and historical figures.
What The Chairman's Bao does well
The library is enormous — more than 11,000 lessons — and current news topics make reading feel relevant. Native audio for every article is a big plus for listening practice.
Where The Chairman's Bao falls short
There is no free tier beyond sample lessons, and at $11 per month it is pricier than many alternatives. Some stories are light or clickbait-like, and complete beginners will find it hard going without a course alongside it.
How MandarinChineseSystem.com compares
MandarinChineseSystem.com has 240 graded articles and conversations — 40 for each HSK level from 1 to 6 — written to use as many words of that level as possible. Every line has pinyin, an English translation and a literal word-by-word translation, so you see how the sentence is built, and each article ends with comprehension questions.
You can tap any word to see its pinyin and meaning and add it to your Personal Deck, and the same words are in the HSK word lists with flashcards and quizzes. The library is much smaller than TCB’s and the audio is computer-generated rather than recorded by native speakers.
The verdict: which should you choose?
If you want a daily supply of news and native audio, The Chairman's Bao is worth paying for. If you want free graded reading that is tightly connected to HSK vocabulary and flashcards, start with MandarinChineseSystem.com — and add TCB once you have worked through our articles.