The most convenient way to learn Chinese the way it is actually spoken and used. Start with our basic lessons, and in no time you’ll be listening to music, watching films and television and engaging in the actual language. With free daily podcasts, a vibrant community, online study tools and much more, PopupChinese is the most powerful and personal way to learn mandarin.
Elementary - Travelling Light
Aug 04, 2014
Show notes
Xiao Wang strained to tighten the security strap around her luggage, pressing her knee against the bulging fabric to muscle the suitcase closed. She was not sure when or how packing had become this problematic. For while she had long ago become accustomed to the need for travelling light, it nonetheless seemed that there was somehow more and more to pack for each trip.
Advanced - Beijing Fun Life
Jul 14, 2014
Show notes
是不是生活中总能遇到一些让你困惑不解、茫然无措的人和事？总有那么一些不可思议的人和事让你无语、无奈、甚至抓狂、崩溃，但也哭笑不得？很多时候我们选择了一笑而过。毕竟，林子大了，什么鸟儿都有。在这个多元化的社会里，那些奇闻趣事也不失为我们茶余饭后的谈资。也毕竟，怪圈里怎能没有奇葩？
Absolute Beginners - A Loosely Hammer-Related Lesson
Jul 07, 2014
Show notes
Xiao Zhang loved his job. Even that time he fractured his arm at the water cooler, it wasn't until the pain began to trigger hallucinations that he even thought of going to the hospital. And then there was the day he had a spinal fracture and laughed it off until the company owner personally strapped him to a spinal board and ferried him to the emergency room. So a bruise? This was nothing. Hardly even visible.Learning Chinese? And confused by our lesson photo this week? While we're willing to admit that this lesson doesn't have much to do with a hammer, all of the photos of bruises that we could find were offputting. And this lesson is going to live in our archives for a long time. So everyone gets a hammer instead. Consider it one degree of separation from our topic this week, and considerably better looking.
Intermediate - The Anarchists and the Printing Press
Jul 01, 2014
Show notes
After years in the metaphorical wilderness, the Society of Anarchists had finally gathered enough funds to purchase their printing press. Tucked away covertly below the buildings of parliament, the machine stood as a symbol of intellectual resistance within the very halls of a power. Its presence would spark a revolution in dissent and art both, and draw the ire of the very political establishment whose ideology it mocked.
Elementary - A Trip to the Hospital
Jun 23, 2014
Show notes
Having spent the weekend puttering around Chaoyang hospital listening to the groans of the infected, certain members of our staff would like to suggest that a priority for the next Fifth Year Plan be fixing the vending machines in all major health centers, so that at least some of this world's inevitable pain and suffering can be partially offset by the ready availability of fresh caffeine mixed with high-fructose corn syrup.Learning Chinese? In previous lessons we've taught you the difference between 才 and 就. Most textbooks stop there, but we've decided to plow on with this lesson that is going to confuse things even more, by showcasing a specific case in which the two characters are actually used to mean exactly the same thing. Just think of this as one of those times when Chinese decides to kick you in the teeth... for fun.
Intermediate - Behind the Scenes at Popup Towers
Jun 17, 2014
Show notes
This week at Popup Chinese, we take you behind the scenes of a recording session as Grace and Li Zhiqiang struggle to coax a decent performance out of a new voice actor. This is a fairly difficult intermediate show, but if you've been listening to us for a while, we think you'll like it. Not only does it help show what our recording sessions are usually like, but it provides a good excuse for talking about some of the less obvious words and phrases Chinese people use to describe more complex emotions.
Elementary - You Had One Job
Jun 09, 2014
Show notes
Sarah had struggled for years with her company's internship program, which seemed to saddle her each year with marginally less competent and marginally more slack-jawed members of the local student population. Yet while the interns had never been exactly productive, Jared was in a class of his own....
Advanced - The Huang Haibo Sex Scandal
Jun 02, 2014
Show notes
在这个文化多元化、经济快速发展的社会里，那条所谓的道德界限开始日渐模糊。浮躁、虚荣让越来越多的人开始迷失自己，亦或是...在找回自己？及时行乐也开始成为越来越多人的人生座右铭。只是，行乐要有度，要有道德标准和法律约束，起码要对自己负责。乐与不乐其实都有它的代价。快来加入Grace和李莉，针对嫖娼及出轨等一些敏感话题一起八卦一下，探讨一下，感慨一下...
Elementary - Hurting the Feelings of the Chinese People
May 27, 2014
Show notes
One moment Xiao Liu had been suggesting a weekend retreat to Zhongshan Park, and the next his entire office had plunged into a leaden silence. As he would shortly discover, there were feelings that had been hurt, and if he hoped to paper over the situation the only thing to do was to make an apology and mend his ways.
Intermediate - An Invitation to Violence
May 21, 2014
Show notes
A rose tucked away at the bottom of the pantry, clumsy letters wrapped in ribbons and hidden in the attic: such as these had been her efforts at concealment. Yet how brazen were their mid-day meetings in the park near the wharf, making it nonetheless inevitable that her husband would hear of her affair, and take steps to bring it to a decisive and final end.Learning Chinese? This is a bit of an easier Intermediate show than some of our more recent ones, so if you're clambering up to full fluency from the Elementary level, give it a try and see how much you can understand. In the show itself, Grace and David talk a bit about duelling, and teach a grammar pattern that - even if you hate - you should still find useful.
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