中文 · Chinese lessons from Beihai, China
Learn Chinese for real life.
Practical lessons from our YouTube channel: the conversations people actually have in China, written out with pinyin, translation and vocabulary — plus a school in Beihai where you can go and use them.
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The channelChoose your first lesson
Three ways in, all of them free. Every sentence comes from something we filmed, so you hear it spoken before you read it.
生活在北海
shēng huó zài běi hǎi
Real life in Beihai
Three videos from the city our students live in: the beach, the old street, and the weeks after you arrive. Watch them in order, then drill the words you heard.
3 videos · 12 words
狼人杀
láng rén shā
Playing Werewolf in Chinese
One long class game, played the whole way through in Mandarin. These are the words you need to follow it: the roles, the suspicions, and the phrases for voting someone out.
1 video · 12 words
街头与手作
jiē tóu yǔ shǒu zuò
Street Chinese and local craft
A market stall and a shell-carving workshop — two places where the Chinese you need is short, fast and local. Learn the words first, then go out and use them.
2 videos · 12 words
Learn with Real Life Chinese
Long videos, filmed in Beihai and around Guangxi. Each one becomes a written lesson with the dialogue, pinyin and vocabulary from the video.
13:28Playing Werewolf in Chinese
Beginner class · a full game played in Mandarin
2:36Explore Beihai: beaches, culture and local life
Walk through the city our students live in
2:46Beyond the classroom: a hidden coastal city
Weekend trips around Guangxi
3:30Real life of our long-stay students
Long-stay students on learning and settling in
2:21Chinese shell carving: a study trip
Craft vocabulary from a school trip
1:49We got our fortune told by a bird
Street Chinese at a market stall
Go beyond the video
The video and the core lesson stay free, forever. Membership adds the parts a video can’t carry: the full written lesson, something to print, something to listen to on the bus, and a library that keeps growing as we publish.
- Written transcripts with pinyin and translation
- Printable worksheets and revision tests
- Extra listening and dialogue audio
- New material every time a video drops
Membership
$9.99/ month
or $99 a year — about two months free
Join the membership listWe’ll email you the day the library opens.
Look inside the library
Learn with a real teacher
The videos teach the pattern. A teacher fixes the way you say it. Our teachers are the same people you see on screen, and they teach online every day in between classes in Beihai.
- 1
Book a free trial
Tell us your level and what you want to fix. Thirty minutes, one to one, no charge.
- 2
Get a plan
Your teacher builds the plan around the conversations you actually need, using the videos you already watch.
- 3
Meet every week
Lessons run on WeChat or Zoom, booked in your timezone, with notes sent after each class.
Take your Chinese to China
Beihai is a coastal city in Guangxi where the pace is slow, the food is cheap and almost nobody speaks English — which is exactly why students improve here. This is our own campus, not a partner agency.
Beihai, Guangxi · on the coast of southern China
What a study trip includes
- Chinese classes on campus, taught by our own teachers
- Help finding a room near the school
- Cultural afternoons: hanfu, paper cutting, dumplings
- Weekend trips along the Guangxi coast
Planning a longer stay?
Tell us how long you can come for and what you want to reach, and we’ll put together dates, classes and a room for you.
The people you’ll learn from
Real Life Chinese is filmed at our own Chinese language school in Beihai, where students come from all over the world to study. The teachers in the videos are the teachers you meet in class.
Tap a photo to read what each teacher does, what students say about them, and the certificates they hold.
Photos are from our own classes, study trips and student life in Beihai.