If you're learning Mandarin and want to read, Du Chinese is probably one of the first apps you heard about, and for good reason. It's a polished, Chinese-only reading app with a large library of levelled lessons and native-speaker audio. ReadNative covers Chinese too, but takes a different shape: instead of many short lessons, it offers a series of long graded books based on Chinese classics, from Journey to the West at HSK1 up to Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio at HSK4–5.
This comparison is about which suits your reading habits better. Du Chinese is genuinely excellent at several things, and we'll say so.
Side by side
| ReadNative (Chinese) | Du Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | 20 languages; Chinese is one of the deepest | Mandarin Chinese only |
| Content shape | Six long graded books retelling Chinese classics, chapter by chapter | A large library of short, standalone lessons, regularly updated |
| Levels | HSK1 up to HSK5 across the series | Its own levels from beginner to advanced, mapped to HSK |
| Audio | Read-along narration on all six Chinese books | Native-speaker audio on lessons |
| Pinyin | Shown in tap-a-word glosses | Pinyin display toggle over the text |
| Lookups | Tap a word for a gloss with pinyin; tap a sentence for translation | Tap a word for definition and pinyin; sentence translations |
| Vocabulary | Known-word tracking (3+ encounters without lookup), spaced repetition, Anki export on Android | Saved words and flashcard review |
| Getting started | Journey to the West is free | Some free lessons; subscription for the full library |
Where Du Chinese is better
Volume and freshness. Du Chinese has a big library of lessons across all its levels and keeps adding new ones. If you want something new to read every day for a long time, its catalogue is much larger than ReadNative's six Chinese books.
Topic variety. Du Chinese lessons cover everyday life, culture, news-style topics, dialogues and serialized stories. That variety exposes you to modern, practical vocabulary. ReadNative's Chinese books are retellings of classics and folk tales, which are great stories but naturally lean toward narrative and traditional settings.
Short sessions. A Du Chinese lesson is designed to be finished in one sitting. If you only have a few minutes at a time, that bite-size format is very convenient.
Chinese-specific polish. Because it only does Chinese, Du Chinese has had years to refine features for Chinese learners, such as pinyin display options and support for both simplified and traditional characters. ReadNative is a multi-language app, so its Chinese features are good but less specialised.
Where ReadNative is different
Long stories you can live in. The main difference is shape. ReadNative's Chinese books are long, continuous narratives: Journey to the West (西游记) runs 50 chapters, starting at HSK1 and ending around HSK3. You follow the Monkey King from his birth on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit through his rebellion in heaven and onto the journey west with Tang Sanzang. A long story means the same characters, places and words come back again and again, which is exactly the kind of repetition that helps vocabulary stick. It also gives you a reason to keep reading: you want to know what happens. The extensive reading tradition (Day & Bamford, Waring and others) puts a lot of weight on that kind of sustained, enjoyable reading.
A graded ladder of classics. ReadNative's Chinese series is designed to be read in order:
| Book | Level |
|---|---|
| 西游记 Journey to the West | HSK1→3 (free) |
| 十二生肖 The Twelve Zodiac Animals | HSK1→2 |
| 阿凡提的故事 Stories of Afanti | HSK2→3 |
| 白蛇传 Legend of the White Snake | HSK2→3 |
| 三国演义选 Romance of the Three Kingdoms (selections) | HSK3→4 |
| 聊斋志异选 Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (selections) | HSK4→5 |
All six have read-along narration. The difficulty rises within each book, chapter by chapter, rather than jumping between separate lessons. If you want to know more about these stories, see our guide to Chinese graded readers and the Journey to the West study guide.
Cultural literacy. These are stories Chinese speakers grow up with. Knowing who 孙悟空 (Sūn Wùkōng), 诸葛亮 (Zhūgě Liàng) or 白娘子 (Bái Niángzǐ) are pays off in films, TV, idioms and conversation. Du Chinese includes cultural content too, but ReadNative's whole Chinese catalogue is built around these classics.
Automatic known-word tracking. ReadNative counts a word as known once you've met it three or more times without looking it up, and puts the words you did look up into spaced-repetition review, with Anki export on Android. Over a 50-chapter book, that gives a clear picture of how your vocabulary is growing.
More than one language. If you're learning Chinese alongside, say, Japanese or Korean, ReadNative covers all three in one app, each with its own graded book (Momotaro for Japanese, Hong Gildong for Korean). Du Chinese is Chinese-only.
Short lessons vs long books
This is really a question about how you like to read.
Short lessons are easy to start and easy to finish. They give you constant variety and a sense of progress after each one. The downside is that each lesson brings a new context, so a word you learned yesterday may not show up again for a while unless it's very common.
Long books take more commitment, but they give you continuity. Characters, places and plot-specific vocabulary repeat naturally, and later chapters reuse earlier language in new combinations. Many learners find that finishing a whole book in Chinese is a milestone that motivates them in a way that a stack of lessons doesn't.
There's no right answer. Some learners use Du Chinese for daily variety and a long graded book as their "main" reading, which is a perfectly good combination.
Pinyin, characters and dependence
Both apps let you see pinyin, and both make it easy to rely on it too much. A few habits help:
- Read a sentence in characters first, and only check pinyin for characters you genuinely can't recall.
- When listening along, follow the characters, not the pinyin.
- Re-read chapters or lessons without any pinyin help after a few days.
Tones matter as much as pinyin spelling. If tones are your weak point, our sister app TonePerfect is a dedicated Mandarin tone trainer that pairs well with either reading app. For more on lookups, see tap-to-translate without getting dependent.
Who should choose which?
Choose Du Chinese if:
- You want a large, growing library and something new every day.
- You prefer short, self-contained lessons.
- You want modern, everyday topics.
- You need traditional characters as well as simplified.
Choose ReadNative if:
- You want to read whole stories, chapter after chapter, at your level.
- You like the idea of reading Chinese classics from HSK1 upward.
- You want automatic known-word tracking across a long book.
- You're also learning another of ReadNative's 20 languages.
A simple way to decide is to try both. Start Journey to the West, which is free, and read a few chapters alongside a few Du Chinese lessons at the same level. Check a passage with the Chinese text difficulty tool or estimate your level with the Chinese vocabulary size test. Then keep the one you find yourself opening without being reminded. For broader context, see learn Chinese by reading and our roundup of reading apps.
FAQ
Is Du Chinese or ReadNative better for HSK1 learners?
Both have material at HSK1. Du Chinese offers many short beginner lessons; ReadNative's Journey to the West starts at HSK1 and gradually climbs to HSK3 over 50 chapters. If you want lots of separate short texts, Du Chinese suits you; if you want one continuous story that grows with you, ReadNative does.
Do ReadNative's Chinese books have audio?
Yes. All six Chinese books have read-along narration. (Across ReadNative's other languages, only one Georgian book currently has audio.)
Does ReadNative support traditional characters?
ReadNative's Chinese books are written in simplified characters. If you specifically need traditional characters, Du Chinese is the better fit.
How far can ReadNative take me in Chinese?
The series runs from HSK1 (Journey to the West, The Twelve Zodiac Animals) to around HSK4–5 (selections from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio). Beyond that, you can import EPUB books in Chinese, which ReadNative translates chapter by chapter for checking as you read.
Can I use Du Chinese and ReadNative together?
Yes. A common setup is short Du Chinese lessons for daily variety and modern vocabulary, plus a ReadNative book as a longer story you work through over weeks. The two complement each other well.