Easy but authentic Chinese texts

This page, designed for my second-year Chinese class (Chinese 201-202), contains links to children's literature and other relatively easy reading material in Chinese. Some texts are in traditional characters (fan2ti3 zi4), and others are in simplified characters (jian3ti3 zi4); also, some require Chinese software, while others are represented graphically and can be read on any machine. All of them should be readable on the Macintoshes in the Language Resource Center.


No Chinese system required

Quan2guo2 er2tong2 zhou1kan1
A weekly children's magazine from Taiwan, attractively presented in color. Pronunciations are indicated for each character using the Zhu4yin1 fu2hao4 (bopomofo) system.
Quan2guo2 er2tong2 le4yuan2
A monthly magazine for younger children (7 and under), from Taiwan. Some texts are in bopomofo only.
The "Profound Mystery" project (Ao4mi4 Gong1cheng2)
A project to provide informative Chinese-language reading materials on the Web, written for Chinese children by Chinese students and scholars. The language is somewhat easier than in materials written for adults. A graphic version is available (in simplified characters) for those without Chinese-language software.


Chinese system required (readable in Language Resource Center)

Xiao3 peng2you3 de zuo4pin3
A collection of imaginative writing by school children in Taiwan--very interesting, and not difficult to read.


Back to the Chinese 202 page

William Baxter
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
University of Michigan