Du Chinese vs The Chairman’s Bao – The Best App to Practice Reading Mandarin

Du Chinese – Get 10% off any subscription by using the promo code “alr10dc”.

The Chairman’s Bao – Get 10% off any individual subscription by using the promo code “alr10”.

What a time to be alive.

It’s never been easier to find quality tools to help you learn Chinese. This is clearly shown by the two apps that will be the focus of this post – Du Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao.

Both of these apps provide interesting articles written at varying levels of difficulty. You’ll be able to listen to the text, get instant translations and save words to study later.

These apps are very similar, but their subtle differences make each one the best choice for different people.

We’re going to look at them based on four factors – content, functionality, extras, and price.

Content

The Chairman’s Bao (TCB) uses simplified news stories for learning Chinese. While the content isn’t breaking news, it’s current enough for pretty much anyone learning Chinese. Du Chinese does have some articles based on current events, but most center around Chinese culture, original stories, and dialogue. I haven’t found the writing to be any better or worse on any of the apps, but TCB in particular writes almost exclusively in a news style format, while Du Chinese tends to offer more variety in the kind of Chinese you’ll be exposed to.

The Chairman’s Bao is the winner for quantity.

TCB releases several articles per day and around 5-6 new articles per HSK level each week. You can easily find an article about something interesting to you. They also have lessons on historical folk tales and legends, as well as video lessons for learners at the HSK1-2 level. Du Chinese has much less content, with only one new article each day. This means you may only get 4 or 5 new articles at your desired difficulty level in a month.

TCB has the biggest library of content as well. They release so much new material that you’ll likely never think about reading through old articles. Du Chinese still has a library of thousands of articles, but they are released less frequently.

Du Chinese takes the lead with quality. 

Because many of the articles on Du Chinese aren’t focused on current events, I find they have a longer shelf-life. I enjoy reading old articles on Du Chinese just as much as the new ones. I’m not sure that I’d feel the same about reading old articles on TCB. Du Chinese courses also provide more structure and guidance, increasing in difficulty over time and easing readers through HSK vocabulary or specific areas of the language. Their serialized stories also provide a more natural reading experience that can be more engaging than single articles in isolation.

Functionality

While TCB is the clear winner for content, Du Chinese wins the measure of functionality by an equally large margin.

TCB has significantly improved the technical side of their app – though it’s still not as good as Du Chinese. 

It used to be quite slow and laggy, but that’s not really a problem anymore. Like Du Chinese, you can look up and save words easily. You can play the article as a whole and fast-forward and rewind in five-second intervals. For the most part, everything works well. But occasionally, a word may not load when you try to look up the meaning. It’s pretty rare that this happens though and doesn’t affect things much.

Du Chinese provides an incredible user experience.

The design is perfect. It’s the only app that has English translations of the articles. One sentence will be shaded, and the translation will be shown at the top of the screen. But, this doesn’t get in the way, and you can tap to hide it if you prefer. Tapping a word or character will also reveal its reading and definition without covering any of the original text.

You can also hide or show pinyin and HSK level for every word. The audio is perfectly synced with the text. As you’re listening, the character being spoken will be highlighted. If you tap a character, the audio will begin in that spot exactly. The app is fast. When you open an article once, it’ll be saved and you can read and listen to it offline. You can also speed up and slow down the audio. It’s hard to appreciate how good the design of Du Chinese is without actually trying it.

Du Chinese – Get 10% off any subscription by using the promo code “alr10dc”.

The Chairman’s Bao – Get 10% off any individual subscription by using the promo code “alr10”.

Extras

The Chairman’s Bao has really stepped up to become much more than just an app to practice reading Chinese.

They’ve added several extra features that are extremely useful. First, you can click on any character while you’re reading, see the stroke order, and then practice writing it yourself.

Additionally, they’ve included comprehension questions with each reading selection and even some listening comprehension exercises. There are a few different types of questions. In one, you’ll match the Chinese characters to the pinyin and English translation. Another type of question involves re-ordering the sentences. A third type is true or false questions. There are also multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-gap grammar exercises.

The questions are actually fairly challenging, so you’ll need to have understood what you’ve read. It’s definitely a big plus for The Chairman’s Bao.

While Du Chinese doesn’t have stroke order, its flashcard system, progress tracking, and recently introduced grammar explanations are all big pluses that help it keep up in this area.

Price

TCB costs $10/month, $25/three months, $45/six months or $80/year. You can also get an extra 10% off by using the promo code “alr20tcb”. Using this coupon code, the yearly plan would cost $72 or $6 per month.

Du Chinese costs $14.99/month, $79.99/six months or $119.99/year. You can get 10% off any plan by using the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES”. Using this coupon code, the yearly plan would cost $108 or $9 per month.

If you look at these apps from the perspective of an annual plan, the price difference isn’t significant between them.

Which app is right for me?

I can’t end this article by saying “You should subscribe to ____ app.” It depends more on the learner than the app itself. Any one of them could be the best option for you. It depends on your situation.

If you’re a casual learner, both TCB and Du Chinese have some free content. This may be enough material for those who only want to read the occasional article.

If you’re planning to read many articles per day, then The Chairman’s Bao will be your best option. None of the other apps will have enough content for you.

If you’re at a beginner to elementary level, or want to read content other than news articles, then Du Chinese is probably best. At the beginning stages of learning Chinese, having English translations to reference is essential. Without them, you’ll misunderstand a fair amount of the text when you only have translations for one word at a time. Being able to read content that’s fun and engaging, with variation in tone and format, is also a huge plus for people who want to get invested in reading. 

You can’t go wrong with either of these. The fact that it’s a decision worth thinking about is a testament to what a great time it is to be learning Chinese. The tools we have available to us now are awesome.

Whatever you decide to do, the most important thing is that you put in the time practicing.

You can try out both apps before subscribing, and you should! Figure out which one is the best fit for you.

Du Chinese – Get 10% off any subscription by using the promo code “alr10dc”.

The Chairman’s Bao – Get 10% off any individual subscription by using the promo code “alr10”.