A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels

春节档电影预售遇冷:票房大幅下降背后的原因
China's Spring Festival Box Office Falls 60% — No Ne Zha 2, No Zhang Yimou Hit to Save 2026
About this story
China's 2026 Lunar New Year presales fall 60% — no Ne Zha 2, no Zhang Yimou, Jet Li or Jackie Chan to save it. HSK 3 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 3-4 Chinese listening episode that runs about 7 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 16 key vocabulary words such as 习惯、成绩、理想 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 this year's Spring Festival movie market, there is news that has made many people feel very surprised.
We all know that the Spring Festival is the most important festival for Chinese people.
During the Spring Festival holiday, going to watch movies with family and friends has already become a habit for many people.
In recent years, movie box office earnings during the Spring Festival have always been very high.
However, the situation this year seems to have undergone some major changes.
According to the latest data, the "pre-sale" results for this year's Spring Festival movies are not very ideal.
What are pre-sales?
Simply put, it is when the audience buys tickets before the movie is officially released.
This data is very important.
Because it can tell us whether everyone is interested in these movies.
If pre-sale tickets sell well, it shows that everyone really wants to watch.
If they don't sell well, it shows that everyone might not really want to go to the cinema.
Current data shows that the pre-sale box office for this year's Spring Festival season is only around 200 million RMB.
You might think that 200 million is a very large number.
However, if we compare it with last year, we will discover the problem.
At this time last year, pre-sale box office had already reached 600 million yuan.
That is to say, this year is a full 400 million yuan less than last year.
The magnitude of the decline exceeds sixty percent.
This is a very serious decline.
Many people in the movie business, such as investors and cinema managers, are very worried right now.
They are all asking one question: Why isn't everyone buying tickets anymore?
There are many complex reasons involved here.
First, we need to look at last year's situation.
The reason the results were so good last year was because there was a particularly amazing movie.
This movie is called "Ne Zha 2".
It is an animated film, but it was very, very popular.
Whether adults or children, everyone liked watching this movie.
It broke many records and attracted countless viewers into the cinemas.
This one movie alone earned 4.8 billion yuan.
It accounted for a large portion of last year's total Spring Festival box office.
One could even say that last year's good results were mainly due to this one movie.
But what about this year?
Experts analyze that this year there is no movie as amazing as "Ne Zha 2".
Although there are quite a few movies being released this year, none can cause a sensation like "Ne Zha 2".
This is just like going to a party.
If there is a super superstar there, everyone will want to go.
If the superstar isn't there, the number of people going might be much fewer.
A movie producer said that to surpass last year's results, a miracle must happen.
So, what movies are there this year exactly?
Actually, the variety of movies this year is still very rich.
And they are all movies made by China itself.
There are all kinds of genres, suitable for different people to watch.
For example, there is a new movie directed by Zhang Yimou.
This is a movie about national security, and the story is very tense.
There are also traditional Kung Fu movies, which are martial arts movies.
There are many very famous actors in them.
Such as Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and Nicholas Tse.
Besides that, there are also comedy movies about car racing.
Of course, to cater to children, there are also animated films like "Boonie Bears".
It looks like there are many choices and the lineup of actors is very strong.
However, the problem lies right here.
Although these actors are famous, can they attract today's young people?
This is a big question.
In the current movie market, the main audience is young people.
That is what we often call the "post-95s" or "post-00s".
The tastes of these young people are different from audiences in the past.
Experts point out that the appeal of traditional Kung Fu movies to young people is declining.
Moreover, the main directors and actors of this year's Spring Festival movies are relatively old.
Many are over forty, or even sixty or seventy years old.
This creates a kind of "generation gap" between the movies and the audience.
Young people might feel these movies aren't fresh enough or cool enough.
They want to watch movies that are more relevant to their lives.
If movies cannot interest young people, it is difficult for the box office to go high.
Besides reasons related to the movies themselves, there is also an external reason.
That is this year's holiday schedule.
This year's Spring Festival holiday is very long, totaling nine days.
This is the longest Spring Festival holiday in history.
You might think, with a longer holiday, wouldn't everyone have more time to watch movies?
Actually, the situation might be exactly the opposite.
Because the holiday is long, many people are not just going home for the New Year.
They will choose to go traveling.
To go to other cities, or go to places with good scenery to have fun.
If everyone goes traveling, the time and money spent on watching movies will decrease.
Traveling requires spending a lot of money.
If the money is all spent on buying plane tickets and staying in hotels, they might not be willing to buy movie tickets.
Therefore, for the film industry, a long holiday is both an opportunity and a challenge.
Although the current pre-sale results are not very good, we don't need to be too pessimistic.
We must see that China's movie market is actually recovering.
Last year's total box office increased by 22 percent compared to the year before.
It totaled more than 50 billion RMB.
This is a pretty good report card.
Although it hasn't completely returned to the best level of a few years ago, it is in the process.
The current market has recovered to about 80 percent of 2019 levels.
To help the movie market, the government is also thinking of solutions.
Governments in many places have launched good policies.
For example, in Hubei Province, the government decided to distribute benefits to the common people.
They plan to issue tens of millions of yuan in "movie consumption vouchers" this year.
Simply put, the government helps you pay for part of the movie ticket.
This way, the price of movie tickets becomes lower.
If you want to watch a movie, using this voucher will make it much cheaper.
The government hopes to encourage everyone to go to the cinema more often through this method.
After all, if the ticket price is too expensive, many people will choose to watch TV at home.
If the ticket price is cheaper, everyone will be willing to go out.
This is a good thing for both cinemas and the audience.
In general, the movie market this Spring Festival is facing considerable pressure.
On one hand, it's because last year's results were too good and are difficult to surpass.
On the other hand, it is because the content of the movies and the preferences of young people might not be quite the same.
Plus, everyone wants to travel more, diverting some of the audience.
However, the movie market is always full of changes.
Perhaps after the movies are officially released, a "dark horse" will appear.
What is a "dark horse"?
It is a movie that everyone didn't think highly of at first, but ended up being very successful.
Word of mouth is very important.
If the first batch of viewers watch it and think it's good, they will tell others online.
This way, more and more people will buy tickets.
So, although current pre-sale data is low, it is not the final result.
We have to wait until the Spring Festival truly begins to see everyone's reaction.
Maybe some movies, although they don't have big stars, tell a particularly good story.
Movies like this can often bring surprises to the audience.
For those who like movies, there are still many choices this Spring Festival.
Whether you like tense stories or relaxing comedies, you can find something suitable for yourself.
As long as the quality of the movie is good, everyone will still be willing to spend money to support it.
This is the law of the market.
Good products will always be liked by someone.
We also hope that this year's Spring Festival season can bring us some different kinds of emotion and happiness.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇Something you do regularly or the state of being accustomed to something.
Used for school grades or performance results in business/sports.
Perfect or satisfying; can also mean 'dream/aspiration'.
Used to describe negative situations, illnesses, or problems.
Describing variety, resources, or experience.
To give support, confidence, or hope to someone.
HSK 1-3. audience.
HSK 1-3. city.
Refers to the total revenue generated by ticket sales for a movie.
Selling tickets or goods before they are officially available or released.
Specifically used for movies starting to show in theaters.
Often used with rising or falling statistics to describe the size of the change.
Causing a great excitement or commotion among the public.
Differences of outlook or opinion between people of different generations.
Tending to see the worst aspect of things; opposite of 乐观 (lèguān).
Vouchers issued (often by government) to stimulate spending.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法Meaning 'that is to say' or 'in other words'. It connects a previous statement with a clarification or conclusion.
也就是说,今年比去年少了整整四亿元。
A structure meaning 'the reason why... is because...'. It emphasizes the cause of a specific result.
去年之所以成绩那么好,是因为有一部特别厉害的电影。
Meaning 'no matter if it is A or B, [result] is the same'. It indicates that the condition does not affect the outcome.
不管是大人还是小孩,都喜欢看这部电影。
Meaning 'both... and...'. Used to describe two qualities or roles existing simultaneously.
所以,长假期对电影行业来说,既是机会也是挑战。
Meaning 'as long as... then...'. It introduces a sufficient condition for a result.
只要电影的质量好,大家还是会愿意花钱支持的。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Sources
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