# VibeHanzi

> https://vibehanzi.com — Learn travel-ready Chinese characters through real city spots, then play short matching games. For zero-basis English-speaking travelers. Not a textbook.

VibeHanzi helps English speakers with zero Chinese learn the hanzi they will actually see at landmarks (for example Beijing Forbidden City, Shanghai City God Temple, Chengdu Kuanzhai Alley, Chongqing Hongyadong). Path: City → Spot deep-learn → optional 1-minute games. Free; no signup required to browse published spots.

As of July 2026, VibeHanzi covers 4 cities (Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Shanghai) and 36 published landmarks, with 221 spot-taught characters in the Characters by place index. Each spot page breaks down name characters with memory hooks and optional short games. Guides and games are free; no account is required to browse published places.

## Primary pages

- [Home](https://vibehanzi.com/): Product overview and city entry points
- [Characters by place](https://vibehanzi.com/chars): As of July 2026, VibeHanzi indexes 221 Chinese characters taught across 36 published landmarks in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Shanghai — name characters on the place title and scene characters you meet on site. This is not an HSK list or full dictionary: open any character to learn it on its spot page.
- [Character family pages](https://vibehanzi.com/llms-full.txt#character-pages-hanzi): ~138 /hanzi/{char} pages (full list in llms-full.txt)
- [Guides](https://vibehanzi.com/guides): Trip plans, app comparisons, plaque lists
- [Do You Need to Speak Chinese for a China Trip?](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/do-i-need-chinese-for-china): Honest answer for first-timers: speaking is optional in major cities — recognizing a few plaque and metro characters changes the trip. Speak vs read, survival signs, and landmark prep.
- [Essential Chinese Characters for Travelers (Signs First)](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/essential-chinese-characters-for-travelers): The survival sign deck: exit, entrance, metro, restrooms, and a few more shapes you will see before any landmark plaque — then how it differs from place-name hanzi.
- [Most Common Chinese Characters on Landmark Plaques](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/most-common-plaque-characters): Original tally: which name-plaque characters repeat across VibeHanzi’s published landmarks — not an HSK list, a traveler catalog count.
- [How to Learn Chinese Characters for a China Trip](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/learn-chinese-characters-china-trip): A five-day, zero-basis plan: pick landmarks, unpack name characters, then lock them with short games before you fly.
- [VibeHanzi vs Duolingo, Pleco, and HSK Apps](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/vibehanzi-vs-language-apps): Fair comparison for travelers: what each tool is for, and when spot-deep landmark hanzi beats streak apps or flashcards.
- [Shanghai Plaques Beginners Should Recognize](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/shanghai-plaques-for-beginners): Landmark name characters you’ll actually see in Shanghai — City God Temple, Yu Garden, The Bund, and more.
- [Beijing Plaques Beginners Should Recognize](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/beijing-plaques-for-beginners): Landmark name characters for Beijing sightseeing — Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, and more.
- [Chengdu Plaques Beginners Should Recognize](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/chengdu-plaques-for-beginners): Landmark name characters for Chengdu — Kuanzhai Alley, Wuhou Shrine, and Du Fu Thatched Cottage.
- [Chongqing Plaques Beginners Should Recognize](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/chongqing-plaques-for-beginners): Landmark name characters for Chongqing — Hongyadong, Ciqikou, Jiefangbei, and the Yangtze Cableway.
- [First-Day Shanghai Hanzi: Metro, Gates, and Wayfinding](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/first-day-shanghai-hanzi): Characters you will see before any landmark plaque — subway exits, ticket gates, and station boards on day one in Shanghai.
- [First-Day Beijing Hanzi: Metro, Gates, and Wayfinding](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/first-day-beijing-hanzi): Day-one characters in Beijing — subway lines, exits, security cues, and station boards before you reach the Forbidden City.
- [First-Day Chengdu Hanzi: Metro, Snacks, and Wayfinding](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/first-day-chengdu-hanzi): Day-one characters in Chengdu — metro lines, exits, spicy-menu cues, and station boards before Kuanzhai or the panda base.
- [First-Day Chongqing Hanzi: Metro, Stairs, and Wayfinding](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/first-day-chongqing-hanzi): Day-one characters in Chongqing — metro, up/down stairs, exits, and station boards before Hongyadong or the cableway.
- [How We Reality-Check Spot Pages](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/how-we-reality-check-spots): Why VibeHanzi writes worth-it, filter-bust, and tradeoff notes on landmark pages — and how to use them before you learn the characters.
- [Metro Signs in Chinese: Characters Travelers Need](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/metro-signs-chinese-characters): Zero-basis metro hanzi — 线, 站, 出口, 入口, 换乘, 安检 — for reading station boards without an HSK course. Links to character pages and city day-one guides.
- [Menu Chinese Characters for Travelers](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/menu-chinese-characters-travelers): Read restaurant boards and menu headers — 饭, 面, 汤, 菜, 鱼, 肉, 辣 — enough to order without fluency. Not a language class; a traveler deck.
- [Paying and Tickets: Chinese Signs You’ll See](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/pay-and-tickets-chinese-signs): Ticket windows, gates, and payment boards — 票, 售票, 扫码, 现金, 入口 — so you recognize WeChat and Alipay cues without an app tutorial.
- [Toilets and Exits: Chinese Wayfinding Characters](https://vibehanzi.com/guides/toilets-exits-chinese-wayfinding): Survival wayfinding — 男, 女, 卫生间, 厕所, 出口, 入口 — for malls, metro, parks, and crowded attractions when English signs disappear.
- [Beijing Chinese for travelers](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing): Palace, long wall, heaven's altar, lake garden, incense lanes, hill panorama — then the red gate, north lake, drum alley, and factory-shed galleries in Dashanzi.
- [Chengdu Chinese for travelers](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu): Qing twin lanes and courtyard tea, a Three Kingdoms shrine, Du Fu’s cottage, Panda Base glass, Jinli’s night snack timber, Chunxi’s neon mall canyon, Dujiangyan’s fish-mouth roar, then Qingcheng’s mist-pine Daoist hush — eight Chengdu nameboards.
- [Chongqing Chinese for travelers](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing): Cliff stilts, porcelain-port lanes, a Liberation stele, a Yangtze cable cabin, a train through a hillside tower, pier wind at the two-river mouth, Shibati’s steep stone stairs, then Nanshan’s hilltop river-bowl overlook — eight Chongqing nameboards.
- [Shanghai Chinese for travelers](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai): Folk temple, gold hush, stone bank, glass spit, pleasure garden, neon mile, shady villa road — plus polished Xintiandi plazas, shikumen studios, and a canal town day trip.
- [gugong (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/gugong)
- [changcheng (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/changcheng)
- [tiantan (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/tiantan)
- [yiheyuan (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/yiheyuan)
- [yonghegong (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/yonghegong)
- [jingshan (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/jingshan)
- [tiananmen (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/tiananmen)
- [beihai (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/beihai)
- [nanluoguxiang (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/nanluoguxiang)
- [qiqiba (Beijing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/beijing/qiqiba)
- [kuanzhaixiangzi (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/kuanzhaixiangzi)
- [wuhouci (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/wuhouci)
- [dufucaotang (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/dufucaotang)
- [xiongmaojidi (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/xiongmaojidi)
- [jinli (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/jinli)
- [chunxilu (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/chunxilu)
- [dujiangyan (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/dujiangyan)
- [qingchengshan (Chengdu)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chengdu/qingchengshan)
- [hongyadong (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/hongyadong)
- [ciqikou (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/ciqikou)
- [jiefangbei (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/jiefangbei)
- [changjiangsuodao (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/changjiangsuodao)
- [liziba (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/liziba)
- [chaotianmen (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/chaotianmen)
- [shibati (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/shibati)
- [nanshanyikeshu (Chongqing)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/chongqing/nanshanyikeshu)
- [chenghuangmiao (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/chenghuangmiao)
- [jingansi (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/jingansi)
- [waitan (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/waitan)
- [lujiazui (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/lujiazui)
- [yuyuan (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/yuyuan)
- [nanjinglu (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/nanjinglu)
- [wukanglu (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/wukanglu)
- [tianzifang (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/tianzifang)
- [xintiandi (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/xintiandi)
- [zhujiajiao (Shanghai)](https://vibehanzi.com/city/shanghai/zhujiajiao)

## Optional

- [Full URL list](https://vibehanzi.com/llms-full.txt): Complete inventory of live city and spot pages
- [Free / pricing](https://vibehanzi.com/free.txt): Machine-readable free tier (no paid wall)
- [About](https://vibehanzi.com/about)
- [Contact](https://vibehanzi.com/contact)
- [Privacy](https://vibehanzi.com/privacy)
- [Terms](https://vibehanzi.com/terms)
- [Sitemap XML](https://vibehanzi.com/sitemap.xml): Submit this file in Google Search Console / Bing Webmaster
- [URL list TXT](https://vibehanzi.com/sitemap.txt): Full crawlable public URL list (not a Google sitemap)

## Bing / Cloudflare crawl notes

App robots.txt allows Bingbot and citation bots on public pages (not /play, /admin, /studio).
If Cloudflare Managed Content Disallows GPTBot/ClaudeBot/etc., align CF so search/citation crawl stays allowed; keep Content-Signal search=yes (use=reference is OK for Copilot). Never block Bingbot.
After production deploys, IndexNow notifies Bing (GitHub workflow indexnow-on-deploy, or npm run indexnow -- --all).

## Allowed use

You may cite and link to our spot summaries with attribution to VibeHanzi.
Do not present VibeHanzi as an HSK course, stroke-order textbook, or paid language school.