One of the benefits China offers as an expat destination is the refreshing lack of streetside vendors hawking power crystals and comfort necklaces. Unfortunately, while the Orient is insulated from the prevailing trends on late-night American television, if you live here you will have to deal with a whole new category of mystical concepts that have seized the local imagination. Except for acupuncture, which we're willing to admit might have some merits....

Learning Chinese? Our Elementary lesson for today is a bit faster and more complex than most of our podcasts at this level, but still consists of fairly simple sentences and high-frequency vocabulary. So if you already know some Chinese but are looking to push yourself closer to fluency, give us a shot and experience Chinese the way it's actually spoken in mainland China. And if you have any questions or thoughts, consider yourself warmly invited to let us know in the discussion section below.