First 100 Chinese Characters: Simplified Character, Quick & Easy Method to Learn the 100 Most Basic Chinese Characters

by Alison Matthews, Laurence Matthews

This book is a quick and easy way to learn basic Chinese Characters.

All beginning students of Chinese struggle to memorize and learn to write the Chinese characters. The First 100 Chinese Characters adopts a structural approach which helps students to quickly master the basic characters that are fundamental to this language. Intended for beginning students, this book presents characters that have been carefully selected for rapid and effective learning.

The English meanings, pronunciations in hanyu pinyin and alternate forms (if any) for each Chinese character are presented along with a stroke order guide and spaces for writing practice. Printed with gray guidelines, the stroke order guides are designed to be traced over to teach students the standard sequence of strokes used to write the character. Related compounds and phrases are given to assist in vocabulary building. Three indexes at the back allow the characters to be looked—up by their English meanings, hanyu pinyin pronunciations, or radicals. Extra practice sheets are also provided.

This book contains:
-Step–by–step stroke order diagrams show you how to write each character
-Special boxes with grid lines help you practice writing them correctly
-Compounds and sample sentences provide easy vocabulary building
-Hanyu pinyin romanizations identify and help you pronounce every word

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2007

About the author

Alison Matthews is a statistician who has worked in the oil, aviation, tourism, medical and software industries, and also as a university lecturer. She is co-author with her husband Laurence Matthews of several books; they maintain a joint presence on Goodreads under Laurence's profile.

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The First 100 Chinese Characters, Simplified Character Edition: The Quick and Easy Way to Learn Basic Chinese Characters delivers on everything it promises in the title except the part that mentions "easy".

I didn't find it easy at all.

"You'll be learning a writing system which is one of the oldest in the world and which is now used by more than a billion people around the globe every day." pg 4

After a brief introduction in which the author Alison Matthews outlines the book (there is a pronunciation guide, explanation about the construction of the language, techniques and more), it hops right in to the basic characters, beginning with numbers.

The book provides plenty of space for practice, but I utilized calligraphy paper because I'm not allowed to write in a library book. :)

That being said, I am going to acquire a copy of this just for me, because not only is it fun, but also it's going to take me longer than a few weeks to master the basics.

I had some warning going in to this project that it wasn't going to be a cakewalk. One of my nephews took Chinese as his foreign language option in the lower grades and, though he's a smart little dude, he said it was very difficult.

It is. But it is also beautiful. I love how the characters sometimes resemble the words they stand for, a dimension English lacks with our boring Roman alphabet.

And like calligraphy, there is an art to creating the characters. I suppose the same could be said of cursive, but it doesn't have the same feel at all. When I finish a practice page of Chinese characters, I feel like I'm looking at a painting rather than an essay.

In addition, being a left-hander is a benefit in writing Chinese rather than the hindrance that I feel it has been for me in English. The characters are traditionally written top to bottom, right to left. I don't smear the ink across my hand and wrist! It's been quite novel.

Highly recommended for anybody interested in learning how to write Chinese characters.

[˚⊱ Avi ⊰˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really helpful in learning some beginner Mandarin characters. It doesn't really give examples of how to use the characters, but it does show how one character would be paired with others and what that new term would be. I wish it had more space for you to practice the characters, but it does give clear step-by-step guidance on how to write each character.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing guide to the first one hundred characters. Still learning them but this guide is a fantastic first step to learning to write mandarin

Will fully review on The Cubicle Escaped

[Paulo Fernandes · Rating 4 out of 5]

我觉得这个书好。不难和有一百汉字。谢谢

[Spencer Tompkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Veeeery helpful in learning the basics of Chinese calligraphy and helping understand the order of the strokes. A must for any student of Chinese!

[Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. Took me about two months to learn all 100, and a third month to have them all completely memorized. Can't wait to pick up the second book!