三味书屋 Chinese Podcast Review

Name of Podcast: 三味书屋(Pin Yin: sān wèi shū wū)

What topics are covered? 三味书屋 is a Chinese literature podcast. The host of the podcast reads 1-2 pieces of prose written by famous writers in China. The topic of these prose is about life, love and other spiritual or philosophical notions.

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Why is it good to listen to?

In this podcast, you can listen to very literal and formal texts. This podcast is very different from other talking or conversation podcasts. The host of this podcast, 孟波(Pin Yin: mèng bō), speaks with a very steady tone and relaxing voice. The podcaster speaks very standard and formal Mandarin. From this podcast you can practice listening to formal and literary texts.

To listen or subscribe to the podcast, you can go search 三味书屋 on Apple iTunes store.

How often are the podcasts updated? It updates every 1-3 days.

Length of each podcast: The running time of each episode of the podcast is about 30 minutes.

Description of the podcast:

If you ever have read Chinese primary school textbooks, you’ll know of a piece of prose written by the respected writer – 鲁迅(pinyin: lǔ xùn), which is 从百草园到三味书屋 (pinyin: cóng bǎi cǎo yuán dào sān wèi shū wū). In this piece of writing, he said that 三味书屋 was his childhood grammar school where he learned reading and writing, as well as an important life philosophy.  三味书屋 does exactly this. It reads selected proses written by writers in China and Taiwan, most of which are regarded as classics. These texts tell the stories of people all walks of life, and often have a deep meaning.  As well as the prose selection, there are some episodes of the podcast which cover Tang Dynasty poems and give a bit of explanation. These poems can be a good start for you to get some sense of ancient Chinese.

Summary:

三味书屋 is a great podcast for listening to Chinese literature in the original.