名míngname
Chinese names
How Chinese names work, how to choose your own, and hundreds of real names with their meanings.
The WillyChina blog
读dúto read
Mandarin and Chinese culture, explained
The WillyChina Mandarin blog: guides to Chinese names, the HSK, characters and learning Mandarin, and to the culture and history behind the language. Written by a native Mandarin teacher.
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Editor’s pickHow to Add Mandarin to Your Homeschool Plan
Homeschool Mandarin made simple: hours by age, a 10-week term plan, milestones, record-keeping for your local rules and free Week 1 audio.
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Explore by topic
Every guide on the Mandarin blog, grouped by what you want to know, with the free tools that go with them.
考kǎoto sit an exam
The HSK exam
The six levels, the new HSK 3.0, how long each level takes and what happens on test day. Test dates and registration are on the official HSK website.
字zìcharacter
Chinese characters
How characters are built, the rules of stroke order and the hundred you will meet most, each with pinyin, meaning and native audio.
学xuéto learn
Learning Mandarin
Honest answers on difficulty, timelines, apps and teachers, and on learning at any age, from homeschooled children to busy adults.
文wénculture
Culture, history and travel
Dynasties, dialects, regional food and traditional music, and China province by province.
New on the blog
Latest from the Mandarin blog
Everything we publish, newest first.
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How to Add Mandarin to Your Homeschool Plan
Homeschool Mandarin made simple: hours by age, a 10-week term plan, milestones, record-keeping for your local rules and free Week 1 audio.
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The 100 Most Common Chinese Characters
The 100 most common Chinese characters by frequency, each with pinyin, meaning, an example word and native audio, plus a quiz to test yourself.
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Chinese Stroke Order Rules: The 8 Rules
The eight Chinese stroke order rules, with characters that animate stroke by stroke, and why the order makes your handwriting faster and neater.
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How Chinese Characters Actually Work
Chinese characters aren’t pictures to memorise. How components, radicals and the meaning-plus-sound pattern behind most characters actually work.
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How to Choose Your Own Chinese Name (the Right Way)
Choosing your own Chinese name is one of the small joys of learning Mandarin — a real rite of passage. But there’s a right way and a wrong…
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Chinese Names for Boys: 150 Strong Names & Meanings
A Chinese name for a boy is a wish carried in characters. In just one or two characters it can hold a hope for strength or wisdom, an…
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Chinese Names for Girls: 150 Beautiful Names & Meanings
A Chinese name for a girl is a small poem. In just one or two characters it can hold a wish for beauty, grace or wisdom, the image…
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The 100 Most Common Chinese Surnames: Meanings & Audio
A Chinese surname is one of the oldest things a person carries — a single character that can reach back thousands of years to an ancient state, a…
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How Chinese Names Work: Surnames, Given Names & Meaning
A Chinese name carries more than a Western one. Packed into just two or three characters is a family’s history, a set of hopes for the child, and…
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Learning Mandarin in Retirement: It’s Never Too Late to Start
Picture this: you’re on a trip you’ve waited years for, standing in a tea shop in Chengdu, and instead of pointing and smiling, you ask — in Mandarin…
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