Why Subscribe?
If you're reading this, it means that, just like us, you have lived in a Chinese-speaking country and are now back home, or you have reached an advanced level of Chinese and are not sure what to do to continue learning new things.
At Mandarin Zest, we are simply going to share with you what we are doing to maintain our Chinese fluency while living in a non-Chinese-speaking country: reading the news, browsing memes, going through popular stories, and more.
We currently have 3 publications:
The Main Stories | Published every wednesday
This is the main publication of Mandarin Zest. Once a week, we select an article from Chinese media—this could be about a recent event, a trending topic, or something related to Chinese culture.
We analyze these articles to choose the most relevant paragraphs and highlight the key vocabulary you need to understand the text. These articles are always written by native speakers for a native audience, so you'll be exposed to natural, authentic Chinese—even if it's sometimes a bit literary.
The great thing about this publication is that you're not only learning Chinese, but also staying up to date with what’s happening in the Chinese-speaking world.
The fourth story of every month is only available to Mandarin Zest Members (see below).
The HSK Series | Published every monday
This is a shorter publication that focuses solely on grammar. Once a week, we share a grammar point taken from HSK levels 4, 5, or 6. We explain the grammar point and show you how to use it through sample sentences.
The Stories from Advanced Learners | Published once a month
Once a month, we share an interview we conducted with other advanced Chinese learners. These incredible individuals, coming from different countries and backgrounds, share their Chinese learning journeys and offer tips and tricks to better master the language.
Once you subscribe to Mandarin Zest, you will be able to edit your preferences and opt out of publications you do not wish to receive notifications for.
Follow Mandarin Zest on Social Media
You can follow us on social media, where we share Chinese learning content, vocabulary, slang, memes, and more on a daily basis. It’s also a great way to interact with us—we're often online, very responsive, and happy to answer any of your questions.
🍊 Find Mandarin Zest on Instagram & LinkedIn.
Join Mandarin Zest Discord Community
We’ve created a Discord community as a companion to the Mandarin Zest newsletter—a space to connect more closely with our readers, share updates, and exchange ideas. It’s also a great place for Mandarin learners around the world to meet, practice, and support each other. The community is still in its early stages and will evolve with your participation and feedback.
Become a Mandarin Zest Member! 🍊
Mandarin Zest is your go-to resource for improving your Mandarin through interesting articles, practical vocabulary, and cultural insights. While much of our content is free, becoming a member gives you the full Mandarin Zest experience and supports us in creating even more high-quality content.
Membership is available monthly or yearly, whichever works best for you.
As a member, you’ll enjoy:
Extra monthly content: The fourth main publication each month is exclusive to members—more reading, more practice, more Mandarin!
Business Mandarin Zest: Full access to our monthly publication focused on Business Chinese.
Free access to all paid PDF content – all our premium resources at your fingertips.
Discounts on current and future paid products.
Early access to events before they open to the public.
Exclusive Membership Discord channel – connect directly with us and fellow members.
Access to our Close Friends Instagram story – behind-the-scenes, sneak peeks, and more.
And that’s just the start! As Mandarin Zest grows, we’ll keep adding new perks for our members.
Why Join our Membership?
If you’ve already reached an intermediate or advanced level, you know that textbooks and beginner-friendly apps can only take you so far. To keep progressing, you need authentic, engaging content that challenges you just the right amount.
That’s where Mandarin Zest comes in:
Our articles dive into real-world topics—culture, society, language trends—written in Mandarin that’s natural but accessible.
You’ll expand your vocabulary with words and expressions actually used by native speakers, not just textbook phrases.
Business Mandarin Zest gives you the tools to navigate professional conversations and documents in Chinese, a skill few learners ever master.
With extra monthly content and a supportive community, you’ll have consistent input to keep your skills sharp and moving forward.
And as a special touch, since we regularly travel to China and Taiwan, members can opt in to receive personalized postcards from our trips—bringing a little piece of our journey straight to you.
In short: Mandarin Zest bridges the gap between classroom learning and real-life fluency.
Who Are We?
We are Dorota and Antoine (feel free to add us on Linkedin), two young Europeans from Poland and Belgium, respectively. We both lived a big chunk of our lives in Taiwan, where we met each other. We both graduated from a Master’s degree in Political Science from National Taiwan University and, while living there, of course, became fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
All good things come to an end, and we have moved back to Europe. Currently, we both are digital nomads jumping around the continent.
We maintain a profound connection with Taiwan and Asia in general, which is why we decided to create this newsletter together. Antoine also owns a blog about Taiwan called Bubble Tea Island, and Dorota owns a Polish-speaking blog about Asia called Innym Szlakiem.
Finally, we run a business consultancy called Polylocal, which also serves as the legal entity under which Mandarin Zest is managed.
