The new HSK 3.0, taught properly
Chinese characters
you never forget.
Most courses make you copy a character fifty times and hope. Hanzi Master turns each one into a short scene that carries its meaning, its sound, its tone and its writing, all at once. You picture it once. It stays.
In your browser, no download. The complete HSK 1: 248 characters and 157 words.
Hercules is in an Aquarium bedroom as a 女 woman holds her 子 child. 'That is good.' He says.
The method
The sound is hidden
inside the scene.
Every Mandarin syllable splits into three parts. Each part becomes something you can picture, and the pictures snap together into one scene per character.
The first sound picks the actor
Every initial is one fixed character. Meet them once, know them forever.
The end sound picks the place
Every final is a place whose name starts with that sound.
The tone picks the room
Five tones, five rooms. The third tone dips, like sinking into a bed.
Hercules is in an Aquarium bedroom as a 女 woman holds her 子 child. 'That is good.' He says.
Read the scene back and you have recovered everything: h + ao, third tone, woman + child, good. That is one card out of 405.
Why it works
Built on how memory
actually behaves.
Scenes beat repetition
A vivid scene forms a memory in one exposure. Copying a character fifty times does not. This is the same technique memory competitors use for decks of cards, applied to hanzi.
Reviews arrive on time
Spaced repetition schedules each card for the moment you are about to forget it. Ten focused minutes a day covers the reviews that matter.
You test like the exam
Four test types per topic, then a timed 40-question mock built to the official HSK 1 paper, with the real pass mark. You know you are ready before you book it.
Inside the app
Everything a character needs.
- A scene for every character, colour-coded so the sound, tone and meaning are visible at a glance
- Rewrite any story in your own words; the app keeps the sound cues locked in place
- Animated stroke order, then trace every stroke yourself until your hand knows it
- Audio on every card, so the sound and the scene arrive together
- Four review modes: flashcards, multiple choice, typed answers and story recall
- Mastery tests by topic and a timed mock HSK 1 exam scored like the real paper
- A streak and progress sync, so your reviews follow you across devices
- The complete HSK 3.0 Level 1, the standard in force since 2021, with higher levels on the way
Pricing
Start free. Upgrade
when it clicks.
The first topics, daily tests and daily character previews are free forever. Premium opens all of it.
| Free | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Topics | The first two | All of HSK 1 |
| Characters & words | Full topics free, 2 previews a day elsewhere | All 405, no limits |
| Mastery tests | 2 a day | Unlimited |
| Mock HSK 1 exam | Not included | Included, retake any time |
| Stories, strokes, audio | In free topics | Every card |
| Progress sync | Included | Included |
Every plan starts in the same place: the free app. Try the method on real characters first.
Ten minutes a day.
Characters that stay.
Free in your browser, right now. The first characters take about a minute each.
Open the web app