The series Graded
Readers for Chinese Language Learners is composed of 50 books, divided into
three subseries, namely folktales, literary stories and historical stories,
corresponding to Levels 1-3 respectively. The rich and fun content and
easy-to-understand language makes it easy for everyone, whether they are
foreigners learning Chinese, children with parents of Chinese origin, ethnic
minority students of the Chinese language, or even primary school students in
China, to read this series. It enables the readers to gradually improve their
Chinese reading skills and enhance their understanding of Chinese culture by
reading and enjoying stories.
The “Literary Stories” subseries is based on
the Four Great Classical Novels in ancient China. From each novel some epic
snippets are extracted and adapted into 4-6 books, each with 20-30 thousand
characters. Altogether there are 20 books in the subseries, six of which are
from Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
four from Water Margin, six from Journey to the West and four from Dream of the Red Chamber.
Water Margin,
one of the Four Great Classical Novels, tells the story of 108 heroes at the
end of Northern Song Dynasty, Song Jiang as their head, who gathered together
and rose in rebellion and then were recruited by the government to fight
battles. There are four books in this series based on this novel, namely Driven to Join the Liangshan Rebels, The Corrupt Official’s Birthday Gift, Wu Song, and Song Jiang.
Song Jiang tells the story of Songjiang, an obliging man who was forced to join
the Liangshan rebels after a series of incidents. Song Jiang was friends with
Chao Gai and others on Liangshan. His letters with them were discovered by his
concubine Yan Poxi, who tried to take this opportunity to blackmail him. Song
Jiang killed her out of desperation and ran away to take refuge. When visiting
his friend Hua Rong, Song Jiang was framed and therefore decided to go to
Liangshan leading the forces of Qingfeng Mountain. However, having fallen for a
trick played by his father, he went home and was punished by the royal court
with a facial tattoo and banishment to Jiangzhou. One day when he was drunk,
Song Jiang wrote a “rebellious” poem, which was taken advantage of by Huang
Wenbing and for which he was given the death penalty. Thanks to Chao Gai and
the group he led, Song Jiang was rescued and went to Liangshan. After Chao Gai
died, Song Jiang set his mind on being recruited by the government. After being
recruited, most of the Liangshan heroes died. Song Jiang and his sworn brother
Li Kui also died from poisoned wine and had a tragic ending.
Ms.
Chen Xianchun is a professor at Beijing Language and Culture University who has
engaged in the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language since 1975, equipped
with rich Chinese teaching experience. Professor Chen has made profound
research into the teaching of Chinese reading and has published, in addition to
more than 20 academic papers, many monographs and textbooks such asTeaching Reading and
Psychology, Typical Characters and Events in Chinese Culture, A Primer on Modern Chinese Reading, An Intensive Chinese Course, and Read This Way.