Every HSKStory story has toggleable pinyin, so you can choose the amount of pronunciation support that helps you read Chinese characters. Start with a short passage below, then choose a full story at your HSK level.
Pinyin can help you connect characters, sound, and meaning, but it does not need to stay the same for every reading session. The Pinyin setting lets you move from full support to a character-focused reread or a self-check.
Try a short Chinese passage with pinyin
This excerpt comes from Asking the Way.
Characters
小川说：“我妈妈穿黑色的衣服。” 学生说：“对不起，我没看见。”
Pinyin
Xiǎochuān shuō: “Wǒ māma chuān hēisè de yīfu.” Xuésheng shuō: “Duìbuqǐ, wǒ méi kànjiàn.”
English
Xiaochuan says: “My mother is wearing black clothes.” The student says: “Sorry, I haven't seen her.”
Continue reading Asking the Way.
Choose reading practice at your level
Choose a story page that fits your current HSK level, then adjust pinyin as you read:
Four pinyin modes
Use the Pinyin setting to choose the support that fits the passage and your goal.
Off hides pinyin for character-only reading. It can be useful for a self-check after you have already worked through a passage.
Smart shows pinyin for words above the story's target HSK level and for words that are not listed at an HSK level. It follows the story, rather than estimating which individual words you have mastered.
Subtle shows pinyin on every word at reduced opacity. It keeps pronunciation available while making the characters more visually prominent.
Full shows pinyin on every word. It can be useful when you want continuous pronunciation support while reading a new passage.
You can tap a word for pinyin, a definition, and HSK information.
One practical way to use pinyin
Try an adaptable routine rather than a fixed rule. For an initial, pronunciation-focused pass, use Full or Subtle. On a character-focused reread, use Smart so the story level guides the annotations. Then try Off for a self-check, returning to another mode if the characters or meaning stop making sense.
The right mode can change with the story, your familiarity with its vocabulary, and your goal for that session. There is no universal point at which every learner should turn pinyin off.
What research can and cannot tell us
Xiao et al. (2020) studied 158 Indonesian senior-primary learners. Its mediation models associated pinyin spelling performance with reading outcomes. It did not compare HSKStory's display modes or prove that full annotations improve every learner's comprehension.
Cui (2023) studied 24 intermediate learners in an eye-tracking experiment. The pinyin-only passage condition produced a different processing pattern from character conditions. It did not test pinyin shown above characters, so it is not direct evidence against ruby annotations.
These studies can inform questions about pinyin and reading, but they do not prescribe one display mode for every learner or every passage.
Why word-level pinyin matters
Chinese is read in word chunks, not as unrelated characters. HSKStory uses word-level segmentation, so pinyin appears above the whole word—for example, 学生 xuéshēng—rather than treating 学 xué and 生 shēng as separate words.
Pronunciation also depends on context. For polyphones, the pinyin pipeline checks the surrounding word and usage: 了 can read as le (an aspect particle) or liǎo (to finish), while 地 can read as de (an adverb marker) or dì (ground). Corrections are reviewed editorially.
Start reading with pinyin
Read the HSK 1 Asking the Way sample, then choose your level: HSK 1, HSK 2, HSK 3, HSK 4, HSK 5, HSK 6, HSK 7, HSK 8, or HSK 9. Pair a story with Chinese audio stories, or use the free HSK practice test for another kind of self-check.
Editors develop, closely edit, and approve every story. Mandarin audio is reviewed for pronunciation, pacing, and synchronization.