Beautiful chart, I want to make some interactive charts and d3.js is just suited for me. But I can't dive into JavaScript though it looks like easy. I'm familiar with Python. Anyone can suggest enough JavaScript tutorials to hack d3.js. Thanks!
Sorry, as far as I know, we don't have web service like reddit or HN. Like @v-yadli suggests,douban is good site, most of its user is student and young artist(文艺青年).If you
want to write long articles, you can try www.diandian.com, a light weight blogger like tumblr.
I'm from China, I think the method for familiar with Chinese characters is creative and useful. But if you want to learn the real Chinese, the most effective method is using it. I often watch the video on Youtube and make tweets on Twitter.
And I'm benefit from it for my English. So you can communicate with Chinese people on Youku(like Youtube) and Weibo(like Twitter) directly, though those websites' designs are not so friendly. We're pleasure to communicate with you.