Changelog

Seven days

• The trip now runs over seven days, from 第一天 to 第七天. Your quest log groups quests by day, and the title screen shows which day you’re on.
• Day 5 is three quests of its own: bubble tea with 丽丽, your birthday at 静安寺 and the smartwatch.
• This website has a section on the grammar watch, the seven days as a metro line, and this changelog.

Fixed

• On market day with 爷爷, the Buy button did nothing once you picked the amount, so the quest couldn’t be finished and 爷爷 kept following you. Buying works again, he only comes along on market day, and if you go home without the vegetables he tells you where the market is.

Day 5: your birthday

• A new HSK 2 day after 奶奶小馆. Meet 丽丽 for bubble tea on 常熟路, order in Chinese and tell her where you’d love to travel. Type any country and she asks why you want to go there.
• Then 小李, 丽丽, 爷爷 and 奶奶 take you to 静安寺 for a surprise birthday.
• Your present is a smartwatch: press G or tap ⌚. It keeps every conversation you’ve had and tags the grammar in each line, with 38 short notes and examples from 吗 to 如果…就…. The notes are for reading, aren’t voiced and stay on even with English switched off.
• Metro carriages have a driver’s cab at each end, and trains on the platform and passing the other way have proper fronts with headlights.
• A read-through of about 2,000 Chinese lines made seven sentences more natural.

Fixed

• Long answer options no longer run into their number or the speaker button.

Tiếng Việt

• You can play in Vietnamese: menus, tasks, hints and translations. The Chinese stays Chinese.
• Switch languages in the pause menu, or press L. This website has a Vietnamese version too, and both remember your choice.

A new title screen

• The title screen plays real scenes from the game, from the lunch rush at 奶奶小馆 to the Maglev seen from above. Click a thumbnail to jump to one.
• Meet the cast before you start: click 小李, 丽丽, 爷爷, 奶奶 or the kittens to hear them talk.
• A pause button on phones and tablets.

English off, and every country

• Press Esc to pause. From there you can switch off English translations and pinyin, for when you’re ready to read Chinese on its own.
• Come from any country: all 194, every UN member state and both observer states, except China itself, since that’s where you’re going.
• Building sentences accepts every natural answer. When more than one word order is right, they all count.
• A conversation history in the pause menu (记录). Read back any conversation, see the right answer to anything you missed, and practise just those mistakes.
• Each app on the tablet has its own colour, and the pages are tidier.

Fixed

• Sound no longer drops out after a call, Siri or switching headphones.

Grandma’s restaurant

• A new Stage 3: work at 奶奶小馆, your grandma’s restaurant in 老西门. Take orders, bring the right dishes, give change and get paid by the shift. The story now has five stages.
• Money is yours to earn: you start with ¥20, and 小李 only chips in for the things you can’t skip.
• Metro doors slide open and shut with warning lamps and a chime, and from the platform you can see into the lit carriage.
• A hand-painted Maglev ride over fields, canals, villages and the airport. The Maglev is free now, in both directions.
• Two new looks for your character, ten South American countries and the Dominican Republic.
• Support and Instagram buttons on this website.

Fixed

• A sweep through all 342 maps fixed overlapping and cut-off text, and shop conversations are less cluttered.

Your own character, and three new lines

• Create your character: your name, your look and where you’re from. The story follows you, all the way to your flight home.
• Countries from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Lines 8, 9 and 11, with 30 side quests along them.
• Shared bikes: get a 骑行卡 at 人民广场 and ride with B.
• The Maglev from 龙阳路 to Pudong Airport, seen from above at 300 km/h.
• Kittens: 李妈妈’s cat has three. Adopt them, name them, feed them and buy them hats.
• A metro map that looks like a maps app, with the river, parks and landmarks behind the lines.
• More HSK 2 quests and smoother metro animations, and rooms and trains zoom in to fill the screen.
• On phones: smaller menus and text, a tablet instead of a phone, and sound that works on iPhone.
• A new title screen, and the game goes online for everyone to play.

The story, and every station

• The story is rebuilt around three people: 小李, your Shanghainese friend; 丽丽, new in town from France; and 爷爷, your grandpa in 老西门. Seven quests for each HSK level.
• Every metro station can be explored: get off anywhere and walk the streets around it, with neighbours to talk to.
• The first version of this website.

Voices, and phones

• Every Chinese line and every word is voiced, with natural-sounding neural voices.
• Play on your phone or tablet: landscape, a joystick and touch buttons, and you can add it to your home screen.

你好，上海

• Land in Shanghai and get through your first day in HSK 1 Mandarin: a metro ticket, a friend to meet, your first conversations.
• Four stages from HSK 1 to 4, from the French Concession to Pudong and the airport.
• A metro you walk through and ride, station by station.
• The 练 Trainer for practising vocabulary on your phone.