Free C2 Chinese course: proficient

C2 is the Chinese of literature and public life: classical Chinese in modern writing, literary style, wordplay and puns, academic and official language, and classical poetry.

6 grammar lessons, 2 graded stories, 6 classic books, 2 videos, flashcards and an AI conversation partner, all free. C2 is roughly HSK 6 and above; the two scales measure different things, so treat it as a guide.

What you'll be able to do

• Listening: I have no difficulty understanding any kind of spoken Mandarin, even fast, colloquial or strongly accented speech.
• Reading: I can read virtually all forms of written Chinese, including literary texts and passages that use classical expressions.
• Speaking: I can take part effortlessly in any conversation, with a good command of idioms, chengyu and colloquial expressions.
• Speaking: I can express fine shades of meaning precisely and rephrase smoothly when I hit a difficulty.
• Writing: I can write complex letters, reports, reviews and articles in a style suited to the reader and the purpose.

What you'll learn

Learning C2 Chinese with AI

At C2 you can discuss a poem, a news report or a classical saying with the AI in fully natural Chinese, and ask it to explain any allusion. The AI also explains any wrong answer in a lesson, in plain English. It's included free, with a daily allowance; like any AI it can make mistakes, so the lessons remain the reference. More about learning Chinese with AI.

All 6 C2 grammar lessons

Free to read here. In the app, each one is taught in short steps with audio, practised, and brought back for review.

1. Classical Chinese (文言) in modern writing
2. Literary style: four-character rhythm, parallelism and imagery
3. Wordplay: homophone puns, lucky puns and internet coinages
4. Academic register: 进行, 加以, 所谓, 而言, 层面, 机制
5. News and official language: set phrases, slogans and policy terms
6. Reading classical poetry: line length, 平仄, rhyme and reading aloud

Words to keep using at C2

Chinese idioms (chengyu) with meanings and examples (B2–C1): 97 words with pinyin, English and an example sentence.

Reading at C2

• 茶馆晨景: Literary sketch in four-character rhythm: one morning in an old neighbourhood teahouse, from the first kettle to the last customer, and a young man in a suit who does not belong.
• 说“闲”: Essay in light written register: why busyness has become a badge of honour, what the old idea of leisure (闲) meant, with a line from Tao Yuanming, and why idling with a phone is not leisure.
• 老残游记 by Liu E 刘鹗 (1903–1907): A wandering doctor travels through Shandong at the end of the Qing dynasty, listening to storytellers and exposing cruel 'honest' officials. Vernacular prose in 20 chapters.
• 论语 by Confucius 孔子 (5th c. BC): The sayings of Confucius, collected by his disciples in twenty books of short numbered passages. Classical Chinese.
• 道德经 by Laozi 老子 (4th c. BC): The 81 short chapters of the Daoist classic: the way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. Classical Chinese.
• 孙子兵法 by Sunzi 孙子 (5th c. BC): The Art of War in its thirteen chapters: planning, deception, terrain and spies. Terse classical Chinese.
• 三字经 by Wang Yinglin 王应麟 (attributed) (13th c.): The old children's primer in lines of three characters: learning, the classics and Chinese history to the Republic. Short and rhythmic.
• 弟子规 by Li Yuxiu 李毓秀 (c. 1700): Rules for children in lines of three characters: duty to parents and elders, care, honesty, kindness and study.

Listening at C2

• Technology, media and culture (一席YiXi): Cultural critic Dai Jinhua starts from the film Her to describe the 'zhai' (stay-at-home) way of life: closed off, yet wired into global networks. She argues that the digital and biological revolutions, and images that no longer prove anything, are changing civilisation almost without debate. She ends by asking what future China should imagine for itself.
• Classical poetry and life's big questions (一席YiXi): Literature professor Huang Xiaodan uses classical poets to think about death, meaning and freedom. She reads Tao Yuanming's mock elegies for himself and his 'Flourishing Tree', Wang Wei's Wangchuan poems, and Li Bai and Li Shangyin. She ends with Yeats's 'The Coming of Wisdom with Time'.

Questions