The mini-guides below will give you an insight into the Chinese tones and characters as well as pinyin. There's also a section on useful sites elsewhere.

The tone, people say, sounds like Chinese Communist Party propaganda. “Even the CCP’s embassy posts, with all its propaganda, doesn’t spend every single day obsessively praising Xi Jinping ...

This is a mini-guide to Chinese tones. You can either click "Start" and you will be guided from one section to another or you can click on the right-hand side to go to the section of your choice.