Online Reading Meetup for all levels

Text from:
The Three-Body Problem - Ch. 6 - The Shooter and the Farmer (excerpt)
by Liu Cixin
三体 - 第六章 - 射手和农场主（节录）
作者：刘慈欣

Reading text
Chinese text with pinyin and selected vocabulary and explanations provided in Google Sheets. Best viewed on Chrome or Firefox browsers.
016-A|The Shooter and the Farmer - the reading page with pinyin (beginners)
t-016-B - the original article (advanced)
t-016-C - vocabulary with pinyin and definitions (from Google, with corrections)
t-016-D - Chinese text with pinyin and definitions (beginners)

Further Reading
The Three Body Problem on Wikipedia
三体 - 维基百科

About the event
The purpose of this series of reading meetups is not to handhold participants through reading Chinese text, but to introduce written material that can readily be applied to one's learning of the language.

Start time: 3:00 PM London time (Saturday, May 24th, 2025)
Zoom meeting room will open at 2:50 PM
RSVPs close at 2:00 PM

3:00 PM - Introductions in Mandarin and English, Housekeeping announcements
3:15 PM - Reading in breakout rooms

• We'll go into breakout rooms and learn the pinyin and vocabulary in the spreadsheet
• We take turns to read the text out loud and help each other get the pinyin and tones correct

4:15 PM - Sharing and discussion in the main room

• We'll share what we learnt in the breakout rooms.
• Ask questions about interesting vocabulary and sentence structures.
• Share background material about the text.

5:00 PM - End.

• Beginners can stay and read the text again.
• Advanced learners can stay to help if they have time.
• We'll try and help everyone taking part to read at least a paragraph of the text based on the characters and pinyin.

Leaving before the end
Participants can leave any time they like. The main thing is for everyone to try and take part in the Mandarin conversation, and make an effort to express themselves and communicate with others in Mandarin.

No-shows:
If you sign up for an event, please show up. If you have a schedule change and can't make it, please change your RSVP to "Not going". No-shows will be marked as such, so that attendee lists can accurately reflect attendance.

Webcams:
Participants will be asked to turn on their webcams so we can interact with each other just like we're in a face to face meetup. Please make sure your webcam and microphone are working before you log on.

Who should take part in this event?

• Intermediate learners.
• Beginners who would like to try something more difficult.
• Advanced learners who would like to help other learners.
• Native speakers of Mandarin with good command of English who would like to help.

Who should not take part in this event?

• People who just decided last week they wanted to start learning Mandarin.
• If you can't read basic Chinese characters in Pinyin, you're not a beginner. You need to spend a few months with a Mandarin teacher or a language learning App.
• Native speakers of Mandarin who only want to practice English.

Required:

• A computer with Zoom installed.
• A reliable internet connection.
• A working webcam.
• Web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari.
• A Gmail account for sharing Google sheets and docs.

Zoom link and password:
Please do not post Zoom login information on social media or on public pages of the Meetup website.
Before logging in, please read the following page:

Usage of Zoom and Tips for a better online meetup

*** No participant has the right to restrict how and when another participant uses the chat window. The host has overall control over how the meetup is conducted.*

• Zoom recording by participants is disabled and is not permitted throughout the course of the meetup session. If for some reason part of the session needs to be recorded, this will be done by the host, and participants will be given forewarning.
• Taking photos and videos of participants and posting them online without permission is not allowed.

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Banner photo:
Stories of the Sahara (Cover)
- from Wikipedia