Tales and Traditions, Volume 1

Just as children gain literacy in their native language by reading, learners of a foreign language must read large amounts of level-appropriate books and material to attain fluency in their target language. Tales and Traditions was specially created to help learners of Chinese achieve that goal, by collecting the most well-known works in the Chinese literary canon in a series of convenient supplementary readers.

The selections in the Readings in Chinese Literature Series have been adapted to a level appropriate for language learners at four different levels, from beginning level in Volume 1 through superior level in Volume 4. This first volume for beginning learners contains fables and literary quotations, sayings from classical philosophers, and myths and legends.

Perfect for pleasure reading outside of class, or for instructor-directed reading in class, each story includes a short explanation in English, a vocabulary list, and questions to facilitate discussion in both Chinese and English. Stories appear in both simplified and traditional characters on facing pages, and an appendix contains a simplified character text with pinyin for readers still learning Chinese pronunciation.

Tales and Traditions exposes students to a wealth of information essential for the development of cultural fluency in Chinese. This series of readings will be especially welcomed as the Advanced Placement exam and other standardized tests of Chinese increasingly require knowledge of China’s literary, cultural, and historical traditions. With Tales and Traditions, students will be well on their way to becoming avid, lifelong readers in Chinese.

About the Readings in Chinese Literature Series

Tales and Traditions, Volume 1 is the first in a four-volume series of supplementary reading material that corresponds to four different levels of Chinese proficiency from advanced beginning through superior. Volumes 2, 3, and 4 are forthcoming.