Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Ma Liang's Magic Paintbrush
神笔马良
Ma Liang's Magic Paintbrush (神笔马良, Shén bǐ Mǎ Liáng) is a fairy tale by Hong Xuntao, retold in simple Mandarin as a 5-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from the classic Chinese tale of Ma Liang and the magic brush: a poor boy is given a golden brush in a dream, and everything he paints comes to life, so a greedy rich man and a greedier emperor want it too.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — An old storyteller who tells Ma Liang's tale plainly and warmly, the way it is told to children all over China.
- Ma Liang · 马良 — A poor, kind and clever boy who loves to draw, and who keeps his promise to paint only for people who need it.
- Granny Li · 李奶奶 — Ma Liang's chatty old neighbor, a poor farmer with a sore back and a big heart, who looks after him like a grandson.
- The White-Bearded Old Man · 白胡子老爷爷 — A mysterious old man with a long white beard who comes to Ma Liang in a dream and gives him the magic brush.
- The Rich Man · 财主 — The village's greedy landlord, who counts his money all day and never thinks he has enough.
- The Customer · 客人 — A cheerful young woman at the market who loves Ma Liang's paintings but can't work out why his birds have no eyes.
- The Emperor · 皇帝 — A spoiled, greedy emperor who wants everything bigger, grander and made of gold.
5 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: A Brush in a Dream
梦里的笔
Ma Liang loves to draw but has no brush, and the rich man only laughs at him. Then, one night, an old man with a long white beard visits him in a dream.
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Chapter 2: The Plow and the Water Wheel
犁和水车
With his magic brush, Ma Liang sets out to help Granny Li and her dry, thirsty fields, until someone greedy hears about the brush.
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Chapter 3: Hot Cakes in the Snow
热热的饼
Locked in a freezing stable on a snowy night, Ma Liang has only his magic brush to keep him warm, and to get him past the rich man's high wall.
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Chapter 4: The Emperor's Gold Mountain
皇帝的金山
Far from home, Ma Liang hides his gift by never painting eyes, until one small slip brings him face to face with the emperor.
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Chapter 5: More Wind!
风，再大一点！
The emperor wants the biggest sea in the world, and Ma Liang is happy to paint it for him, along with a boat and exactly as much wind as he asks for.
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Key words in Ma Liang's Magic Paintbrush
Behind the story
Ma Liang and his magic brush are known all over China, and the story is often retold as a folk tale. The version most people know was written in the 1950s by the children's author Hong Xuntao (洪汛涛), who is still called “the father of Ma Liang.”
Its Chinese title, 神笔马良, means “Ma Liang of the Magic Brush.” Chinese children meet him in picture books, cartoons and a 1950s puppet film, and his name has become praise: an artist whose drawings look real enough to come alive is often called a real-life 神笔马良.
Did you know?
- Ma Liang's eyeless birds echo the legend behind the idiom 画龙点睛, “paint the dragon, dot the eyes.” The painter Zhang Sengyao is said to have painted four dragons on a temple wall without eyes; when he dotted in the eyes of two, those two flew off into the sky. Today the idiom means adding the finishing touch.
- A dream brush has an older story, too. The poet Li Bai (李白) is said to have dreamed as a young man that flowers grew from the tip of his brush, and afterward his writing made him famous. The dream gave Chinese the idiom 梦笔生花.
- A Chinese brush like Ma Liang's is one of the “Four Treasures of the Study” (文房四宝), together with ink, paper and the inkstone used to grind the ink.