Our ‘The Chairman’s Bao’ Definitive Review & Guide to this Chinese Reading App

 A simplified Chinese news site, specifically aimed at Mandarin learners.

Ease of use: 8/10
Fun factor: 9/10
Value for Money: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10

Welcome to our review of the Chinese language learning app, The Chairman’s Bao.

This is an assisted reading app; learn Chinese through reading news articles. From beginners to advanced levels!

And I am such a sucker for reading apps. For me, it’s the best way to learn.

I find that reading and pairing up what I’ve read with vocab and seeing it in context just really works in terms of learning and remembering vocab. So I’m always excited to see new apps out where I can practice this!

Plus… I do this anyway. Depending on my level, I’ll read news articles or seek out bits of text that are suitable for my level. So when an app does this for me… it’s ideal. Plus, with TCB, there is audio and exercises that accompany it!

Let’s take a closer look.

This review is brought to you by Rebecca Payne, an LTL student on her Chinese learning journey!

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Quick Facts

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Pros & Cons

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Cost

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Introduction

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Reading Materials

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Interactive Live Dictionary

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Audio

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Overall Summary

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Where to Download

The Chairman’s Bao Review // FAQs

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Quick Facts

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Pros & Cons

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Cost

The app is free to download, but there are subscription costs to access articles and resources.

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The Chairman’s Bao Review // Introduction

The app has a large variety of different news articles about China, updated regularly, and can also be filtered by HSK level.

I think what makes TCB unique as a Mandarin learning tool is that it is a news site, so the content is always fresh.

Every time you log on to the website there is a new article to read that is current and up to date. Especially for those users living in China, it’s a great way to learn up-to-date news, usually quite funny or quirky stories, that are relevant or relatable.

Having learnt spoken Chinese for over a year, I’ve only recently started learning to read and write Chinese characters.

When I first saw The Chairman’s Bao website, I thought that it would be way too complicated for me to ever read properly.

A news site that’s entirely in Chinese characters? I’m only just beginning to read characters, that’s way too difficult!

However, I quickly realised what a useful tool TCB would be for my Hanzi education.

This is because it is a differentiated news site, and publishes articles from beginner to advanced Chinese levels.

Not only that, but TCB enables you to learn as you read their articles. There’s no getting stuck because you can’t read some of the characters. TCB guides you through!

The first useful thing about TCB is that you can instantly see how difficult an article will be to read.

Because you can filter by HSK level, you already know how readable an article will be before you click on it. You can also search articles by category.

Why not check out their website tutorial video to get a feel for what it’s all about and how it looks.

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Reading Materials

Firstly, you select from one of 4 categories for the type of material you want to read. We’ll go into them in detail shortly, but you have some other things to select from, too.

Simplified vs Traditional

We love that they give you this selection. Some apps leave it out, but I feel like it’s really simple to add in both…

Beginners to Post-advanced

Select the level that suits you! What’s amazing here is their selection of advanced and post-advanced articles. Usually, advanced learners are overlooked!

Date Range

You can also make sure what you’re reading is up-to-date with their handy date range feature!

So… no onto actually studying.

You can select from 4 different areas.

1. Articles

Updated news articles.

2. Legends

Engaging myths and legends stories

3. Frank Talks

Videos with Frank on a variety of topics.

4. Video Lessons

Video content to study from in a more structured lesson plan.

Exercises

And it doesn’t stop there! Once you’ve gone through your lesson, you can then practice it by completing the exercises that accompany it.

Vocab

You can also go over the vocab that you learnt and make them into lists which can then be imported.

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Interactive Live Dictionary

The Interactive Live Dictionary is another highly useful element of TCB.

As you are reading an article, you can highlight any character(s) you don’t understand, and immediately on the right hand side of the screen appears the pinyin and definition.

This means that no matter what level you’re at, you can understand the article you’re reading.

Even if you can only read half the characters independently, you can use the Live Dictionary for the ones you don’t understand, so you are learning at the very same time.

You can also save words into your Word Bank and come back to review them later.

The Word Bank is pretty useful, as you can create groups of words (for example “Place names”, “adjectives” or “measure words”) and export them to other apps (Pleco, Skritter, Memrise and Anki).

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Audio

Every article is supplied with an audio recording of the article, read out loud by a native Chinese speaker.

These audio readings are very cleanly and clearly recorded, and really do add another string to TCB’s bow.

I will often read the article first, then listen to it to see if I read it correctly. Then my last step is to use the Live Dictionary to check my understanding is correct.

These recordings enable you to practice your reading, listening and comprehension all at the same time.

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The Chairman’s Bao Review // Overall Summary

I would highly recommend The Chairman’s Bao to anyone who is learning Hanzi.

Even total beginners with little knowledge of characters will find benefits from using TCB. It is a fun site with entertaining and informative stories, which makes learning Chinese characters a fresh and varied experience.

Our thanks go to LTL student Rebecca Payne for writing this review.

If you like learning Chinese at home check out our many Chinese learning app reviews and information on online Chinese classes. If you like a more passive and relaxed approach, why not try out some Chinese social media apps or brave International Weibo?

See our FULL list of websites to learn Chinese.

The Chairman’s Bao Review // Where to Download

The Chairman’s Bao is accessible via its website and also via its app which is available on the Apple Store and Google Play.

Apple Store

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chairmans-bao-learn-chinese/id1074317405?ls=1

Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.metapps.thechairmansbao

The Chairman’s Bao Review // FAQs