A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels

为什么这个美国商店在中国很受欢迎?
Why Sam's Club Is So Popular in China — A Beijing Spring Festival Shopping Story
About this story
Why Sam's Club, the American membership store, is winning Beijing shoppers — fresh food, convenience, and trust. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 Chinese listening episode that runs about 8 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 15 key vocabulary words such as 新鲜、聪明、愿意 and walks through 5 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Speaking of where everyone goes to buy things nowadays, this is a very interesting topic.
Many years ago, foreign stores came to China.
At that time, everyone felt it was very fresh and novel.
Everyone wanted to go to the foreign stores to take a look.
Everyone wanted to buy foreign things.
However, the situation is different now.
Many foreign stores have closed down.
They have left China.
Because Chinese people don't necessarily like their products.
However, there is one American store that is different.
It did not close down.
It opened many new stores.
Its name is Sam's Club.
Why is it doing so well?
Let's talk about this matter today.
First, we need to know that this store is American.
In America, people's lives are different from China.
The food Americans eat is different from the food Chinese people eat.
If this store only sells American things, Chinese people might not like it.
For example, Americans like to eat very large pieces of meat.
But Chinese people like to eat different things.
So, this store started to change.
It started selling things Chinese people like.
This is a very smart way of doing things.
For example, when the Spring Festival is approaching.
The Spring Festival is China's biggest festival.
Everyone goes home to be with their mom and dad.
Everyone wants to eat delicious food.
Everyone wants to give gifts to friends.
This store prepared many Spring Festival gifts.
It sells some traditional Chinese food.
It sells some things that are good for health.
For instance, a very famous medicine that is good for the body.
There are also some good-looking things to put in the home.
Americans might not understand these things.
But Chinese people like them very much.
When everyone sees these things, they will want to buy them.
Everyone feels this store understands China very well.
So, everyone is willing to go there to buy things.
This is the first right thing it did.
The second right thing is about the size of the products.
We know that America is very big.
American houses are very big.
American home refrigerators are also very big.
Also, in American families, there may be many people.
So, when they buy things, they buy a lot at once.
The meat they buy is as big as one kilogram a piece.
However, China is different.
In big cities in China, houses might not be that big.
There isn't much space to put things.
And Chinese families are relatively small.
Just dad, mom, and the child.
Some families have only two or three people.
If buying a huge piece of meat, it can't be finished in one go.
Where to put it?
This is a big problem.
If the items are too big, people won't buy them.
This store saw this problem.
So, they made the meat smaller.
Before, it was one kilogram.
Now it is only 450 grams, or 800 grams.
This way, one piece of meat can be finished in one dinner.
This is very convenient.
People don't have to worry about the meat going bad.
People also don't have to worry about having no place to put it.
Because of this change, more people went to buy meat.
This is thinking for the customers.
The store does whatever the customers need.
The third thing is about where the stores are opened.
Before, this store was only in big cities.
Such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
These cities have many people and a lot of money.
But now, there are already many stores in big cities.
The competition is very fierce.
So, this store started going to other cities.
It went to some smaller cities.
Although they are small cities, people's lives there are also very good.
People also have money.
People also want to buy good things.
For example, in some cities in Jiangsu Province.
People there are very happy.
Because they don't have to go to big cities to buy good things.
So, in the newly opened stores, there are a lot of people.
Everyone is queuing up to buy things.
This shows that there are also many people in small cities who want to buy things.
This store's choice was correct.
Let's look at other stores.
There is a store called Costco, which is also American.
It also has stores in China.
But its stores are relatively few.
It opens stores very slowly.
It needs to buy land and build buildings.
This takes a lot of time and also a lot of money.
So it doesn't open as fast as Sam's.
There are also other foreign stores that have already left because business was bad.
So, the Sam's store is very special.
Although it is foreign, it is very much like a Chinese store.
It knows what Chinese people want to eat.
It knows how Chinese people live their lives.
It knows how Chinese people celebrate holidays.
It also knows what Chinese families are like.
This is the reason for its success.
Of course, it also has some problems.
Because the stores opened too fast, sometimes there are problems.
For example, sometimes the food is not very clean.
Or the quality of the things is not the best.
This is the thing everyone worries about the most.
Food safety is the most important.
If the food is not good, people will get sick.
People will get angry.
So, the boss of this store said they will pay attention.
They will spend more money to check these things.
They need to guarantee the things are good.
Only if the things are good will everyone keep going.
If the things are not good, no matter how cheap, it is useless.
Now, there are also many Chinese stores.
China's own stores are also doing very well.
So, foreign stores need to work hard.
If they don't work hard or change, they cannot stay.
What we just talked about is actually news about "Sam's Club".
This is a very famous American supermarket.
It is doing very well in China, this is called "localization".
Localization means that when coming to a new place, one must learn the culture of that place.
And sell things that the people of that place like.
Although many foreign supermarkets have closed, Sam's stayed because it made these changes.
It made big things small to adapt to Chinese families.
It sells Chinese New Year gifts to adapt to Chinese festivals.
This is why it can make a lot of money in China.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇Used here to describe a feeling of novelty or something being new and interesting.
Describes a person or an action that shows intelligence.
A verb indicating readiness or consent to do something.
Describes something that saves time or effort.
Verb or adjective describing concern about something.
Adjective describing hygiene or lack of dirt.
Refers to special days of celebration like Spring Festival.
Something given to someone as a present.
Refers to the state of affairs or conditions.
Refers to customs passed down through generations.
Refers to the rivalry between businesses.
Refers to the standard of something as measured against other things.
To promise that something will happen or be true.
A business term meaning adapting a product to a specific local culture or market.
To change in order to suit different conditions.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法Although... but... (Conjunction pair used to express contrast).
虽然是小城市,但是那里的人生活也很好。
它虽然是外国的,但是它很像中国的商店。
虽然很多外国超市关门了,但是山姆因为做了这些改变,所以它留下了。
A is different from B (Used to compare two things).
在美国,人们的生活和中国不一样。
美国人吃的东西,和中国人吃的东西不一样。
If... (Used to introduce a conditional clause).
如果这个商店只卖美国的东西,中国人可能不喜欢。
如果买一块很大的肉,一次吃不完。
如果东西太大,大家就不买了。
Because... therefore... (Used to express cause and effect).
因为它们的东西,中国人不一定喜欢。
因为他们不用去大城市,也能买到好的东西。所以,新开的商店里,人非常多。
Result complement indicating completion (to finish doing something).
如果买一块很大的肉,一次吃不完。
这样,一块肉,一顿晚饭就可以吃完。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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