Chinese, One Book

Go from pinyin and the four tones to reading real Chinese texts in 12 weeks, one lesson a day.

中文一本 (Zhōngwén yì běn, "Chinese in One Book") is a complete Mandarin course with a clear weekly rhythm. You learn simplified characters and standard mainland pronunciation, with explanations in English.

Your 12-week path

• Monday to Friday: a new lesson. Saturday: weekend test. Sunday: review.
• 60 lessons and 12 tests, including a final exam
• Pinyin and tones → how characters were formed, and radicals → numbers, money and time → verbs and measure words → aspect with 了, 过 and 着 → complements, 把 and 被 → reading real texts: a family diary, notices, stories and festivals

Inside every lesson

• Explanation cards and listening cards
• Vocabulary, a tones-and-reading drill, and sentences
• Reading passages from week 10
• Stroke-order handwriting: about 670 characters with animated stroke order. Trace them first, then write them on your own
• A quiz to wrap up

Hear it, then read it

• Pinyin sits above every character, and you can switch it off. In weeks 10–12 it fades out automatically, so you learn to read the characters on their own
• Every sentence and word comes with a natural recorded Chinese voice. Tap to hear it, even offline
• A slow-playback button for tricky sounds

Five teachers by your side

Five anime teachers from the Red Lotus Academy (红莲学院), from Lili Studio's board game Little Kingdom Xiangqi, take turns guiding you:

• Huina (weeks 1–2): cheerful and upbeat
• Liangyu (weeks 3–4): calm and patient
• Yingya (weeks 5–6): everyday Chinese
• Xinhui (weeks 7–9): grammar
• Principal Fangxi (weeks 10–12): reading

In the opening scene, the teachers introduce themselves and show you the sentence you'll be able to read on graduation day, 12 weeks later.

Built to keep you going

• A mistake notebook that saves your wrong answers
• A 10-question quick review
• Streak and day counter
• A teacher album of 20 special illustrations, unlocked by passing tests and keeping your streak
• A graduation certificate with your name, ready to save and share

Your own Chinese name

Get a Chinese name of your own: Korean names via hanja, Japanese names from their kanji, and every other name by sound.

Simple and private

• Works offline
• No account, no ads, no data collection
• Back up and restore with a code or a file
• Explanations in English, Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Arabic. Switch any time

Pricing

Week 1 is free: 5 lessons, a test and a review. A one-time purchase unlocks weeks 2–12. No subscription.

MORE FROM LILI STUDIO

• Korean in One Book: 12 Weeks – learn Korean from Hangul to reading real texts
• Japanese in One Book: 12 Weeks – learn Japanese from hiragana to reading real texts
• All the World's Scripts – learn to read the letters of 33 languages aloud

Search "LILI studio" on Google Play to find them all.

Lili Studio · lilistudio.org