This book is a rudimentary textbook of oral Chinese tailored to learners who have never learnt Chinese before. It enjoys a high reputation overseas. All texts have combined practical situations with grammar structures, showing in a vivid way the application of the basic words and sentences in Chinese. After a solid study of this book, students will grasp 301 basic sentences and be able to make many more based on them, which should be enough to conduct simple dialogues with native Chinese speakers. Altogether there are 40 units, each of which contains key words and sentences, substitutions, extensions, exercises of pronunciations and grammar. The book touches upon nearly 30 practical situations, involving 800 new words and basic grammar points. There are 6 reviewing lessons. It was first published in 1990, and was republished in 1998. It was listed in the BLCU Choice Textbooks for Learners Overseas. The 3rd Edition was republished in 2005, and  was divided into two volumes, each supplemented by three CDs.