Beginning Chinese Reader, Part 1

by John DeFrancis

This second edition, like the earlier first edition, introduces some of the main varieties of Chinese as found before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. While continuing to stress the basic importance of the traditional usages, such as the regular characters to be found in all materials published before the adoption of the simplified forms in 1956 and still in use in some areas, the present revision goes further in contrasting variant usages and in providing additional material relevent to the PRC.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, Reference

539 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is an incredibly challenging but powerful Chinese tool that will help your reading speed and comprehension. The entire 5-volume series audio recordings are also available on podcast, which will absolutely help your listening.

The upsides of this reader is the repetition. Each lesson will drill into your head how to hear and read different characters and combination words using those characters. The progression in each chapter from sentences, to dialogues to monologues helps build your ability to digest large amounts of information. Just keep in mind that this is meant to improve your reading comprehension specifically. It's not meant as a speaking practice, only reading and listening.

The downsides of the reader is also the repetition. Each chapter hones in on a specific topic and you will be reading about the same topic (atomic energy, publishing a book, etc.) over and over again until you are sick of it. The book also does not have much grammar instruction; it adds in new vocabulary and expects you to understand new grammar as it comes.

Also, keep in mind that this book was written in the 1960s and uses a strong Beijing dialect. This is not modern-day colloquial Chinese. Furthermore, the readers are all traditional characters, although the ending chapters do contain a small simplified section. This was written before simplified really took off around the world.

That said, this book is like your demanding teacher from high school. It's tough to slog through each chapter but when you finish your reading speed and skill will far surpass those of people who used different books.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

DeFrancis' Hanzi readers teaches 1200 traditional characters by character frequency, divided into six books.

Despite many of the reading passages being very outdated (1977!), I think DeFrancis is a good approach to increasing literacy. It's strange no one's published more updated readers using the same approach. I guess it takes too much work. (Or are there and I just haven't found them?)

The passages being outdated means you learn some, um, *really* useful vocabulary in the process, like 原子 (yuan2zi3, atom) and 原子能 (yuan2zi3neng2, atomic energy) in one of the early lessons!

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never read this, but this is how my father learned Chinese. He highly recommends it for anyone interested in learning to read Chinese.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly one of the greatest language textbooks I've ever used. You will think it is boring until you realize it's hacking your brain.

[Nils Albin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Chinese readers out there, even if one is familiar with most of the characters and/or words in the book. It improves your literacy and your reading speed like no other textbook can. Basically spaced repetition but in the 1960s. The handwritten fonts are really pleasing, and you can really sense the passion Dr. DeFrancis had for the language. It's a pleasure to take part of the textbook just from that point of view, especially when 95% of all other (modern) textbooks and apps are just made to earn money, and not because of a love for the language.

While some might comment on the content being boring, I find it rather fascinating and it's a fun time-machine back to the 60s. After the first book you'll even be able to impress your Chinese-speaking friends with the words for atomic energy. You'll also get some exposure to pre-1949 vocabulary and dialogues.

And for me, traditional characters only are just a plus.