Learn Chinese for Free: What $0 Gets You Here
You can learn Chinese for free on Chenjin, and not as a crippled demo. The free plan is a real study loop: a graded reader, daily articles with a full dictionary, games, and spaced repetition.
This page lists exactly what's included at $0 and exactly where the paid plan starts, so nothing surprises you later.
Three real articles a day
Every day you can open three articles from the graded library, with optional pinyin, audio, translations, and a familiarity meter that matches material to your level. The free graded reader, The Country of the Blind, is a full 12-chapter story at HSK 3 on top of that.
The whole dictionary, not a teaser
Every word page is free: definitions, native audio, stroke order animations, the radicals a character is built from and why, word families, and same-sound words. The tap dictionary inside the reader is the same, no lookup limits.
Games and trophies, all free
Escape rooms, mystery cases, spoken shop scenarios, and the Night Peddler trading journey are all on the free plan, tagged HSK 1 to 7. So are the trophies, which never reset once earned.
Tools that don't even need an account
The Chinese to pinyin converter and the printable character practice sheet generator are open to everyone, signed in or not. Useful on their own; better wired into an account that remembers what you know.
Frequently asked questions
What's the catch?
The caps: three library articles a day, 5 new flashcards a day up to a 100-card deck, and one graded reader. The paid plan exists for unlimited reading and the audio tools; the free plan isn't a trial and doesn't expire.
Do I need a credit card to sign up?
No. The free plan asks for an email address, nothing else, and upgrading later is optional.
What would I eventually pay for?
Plus, at $7.99 a month with a 7-day trial: unlimited articles and flashcards, dictation practice, video study with sentence mining, Tone Coach, and Anki sync. Worth it when reading becomes your daily habit; unnecessary before that.
Keep exploring
Try it tonight
The free plan includes the dictionary, the free graded reader, three library articles a day, games, and flashcards. If it fits the way you learn, the Plus plan unlocks the rest with a 7-day free trial.
Create a free accountFree forever plan · no credit card required