HSK 1 vocabulary: how many words, and where the official list is

The official HSK Level 1 page says the level has "a fundamental vocabulary of 150 Chinese words." Our count of the numbered Level 1 list in the HSK syllabus gives 300 words, with serial numbers 1 to 300. The two figures are different, and this article does not say which one applies to a given test date.

The 150 figure on the level page

The figure comes from the HSK (Level 1) page published by Chinese Testing International. The sentence that gives it also says that the level primarily evaluates listening and reading skills in Chinese. The page's Vocabulary tab is where the official word list for this level is shown.

Our count from the syllabus list

The vocabulary part of the HSK syllabus is titled HSK 词汇大纲 (vocabulary syllabus). It starts on printed page 76 of the syllabus PDF. The syllabus is in Chinese.

The Level 1 entries have serial numbers 1 to 300. We counted 300 words from those numbers. The syllabus does not print a total, so this figure is our count and not a number the syllabus states.

Each entry in the list gives:

• a serial number
• a level
• pinyin
• a part of speech

Where each list is

• Level page: the Vocabulary tab of the HSK (Level 1) page on chinesetest.cn.
• Syllabus: the vocabulary part of the HSK syllabus PDF, from printed page 76.

The cover of the syllabus gives November 2025 as its issue month and July 2026 as its implementation month. For questions about which list or figure a particular test uses, ask the test centre or the test body.

Sources

• HSK (Level 1) page (Chinese Testing International)
• HSK 考试大纲 / Syllabus for the Chinese Proficiency Test (PDF) (Center for Language Education and Cooperation)

Checked 11 October 2026

This page is an unofficial summary; it is not published by Chinese Testing International, the Center for Language Education and Cooperation or the Ministry of Education, and the official page prevails if they differ.