Graded readers / The Chairman's Bao

The Chairman's Bao

A news-based graded reader (app and web) that rewrites current-affairs and culture stories across six ascending difficulty levels, each with human audio, a pop-up dictionary and grammar notes. Free sample lessons plus a paid subscription.

Publisher: The Chairman's Bao Formats: App, Web Vocabulary: Graded without a fixed list

The levels

Each level below lists the vocabulary size it is built around and the approximate HSK fit on both schemes. Vocabulary sizes are the publisher's figures; the HSK bands are a computed line-up against the HSK word and character lists, given as ranges and explicitly approximate for this series.

• Level 1: Simplest news lessons, shortest sentences and highest-frequency vocabulary.
• Level 6: Longest, most idiomatic articles approaching native news register.

Check it against your own level

The label on a series is a starting guess, not a promise. The reliable way to place any book is to grab a sample chapter, paste it into the coverage analyzer, and see whether you clear roughly 95 percent word coverage. If you do, the reading will feel smooth; if you are well below, drop a level. Teachers can use the difficulty grader the same way to place a class text.

Other series to compare

• Imagin8 Press An imprint of retold Chinese stories (Journey to the West, dynasty histories, folk heroes) written with a controlled word count, most titles built on the HSK 3 vocabulary. Sold per title in paperback and ebook, with free audiobooks.
• Du Chinese App and web graded reader with a large library of original stories and adapted classics across six levels, each defined by a stated character vocabulary, with built-in audio, pinyin toggle and tap-to-look-up. Free lessons plus a premium subscription for the full library.
• Chinese Breeze A long-running print novella series (mysteries, romances, everyday-life stories) graded by a base-word budget across four levels, with an audio recording of each book. Published by Peking University Press.

Back to all graded-reader series

Source and neutrality: figures are The Chairman's Bao's own published grading, last checked 2026-07-24 against The Chairman's Bao (homepage); the HSK bands are HanziCoverage's own approximate line-up, not a publisher claim. HanziCoverage has no affiliate relationship with The Chairman's Bao and earns nothing if you buy it. The only app we publish and disclose is on the recommended page.