Graded Chinese Reader 2: Selected, Abridged Chinese Contemporary Short Stories

by Shi Ji

Graded Chinese Reader is a Chinese language reader that contains abridged versions of short stories and novellas written by contemporary Chinese writers. Vol. 1 is limited to about 2,000 Chinese words (based on the 1,033 words of level A in the HSK) and Vol. 2 is limited to 3,000 words (based on the 2,018 words of level B in the HSK). Each book features concise and short sentences as well as commonly used words for easy reading. Pinyin is added to the full text, English notes or sample sentences for difficult words and sentences are also provided. The book has an English summary at the beginning of the story and an author biography and questions on reading comprehension at the end. An accompanying CD reads each story for the reader. Stories in Vol. 1: 1. People's Fish by Su Tong; 2. What Happened in the Park by Wang Huaiyu; 3. A Srping Evening by Qiu Shanshan; 4. Good Morning by Xu Kun; 5. The Beauty of Ice and Snow by Mo Yan; 6. Love Story by Yu Hua. Stories in Vol. 2: 1. Wave into Boat by Zhou Daxin; 2. Buddha's Worrior Won't Change by Bi Shumin; 3. Defraud by Liang Xiaosheng; 4. White Flower All Over by Liu Qingbang; 5. Three Epsiodes of Campus by Xie Jingyuan.

Genres: China

257 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book as it was an intermediate level text of modern short stories that included pinyin and a cd of the stories being read. However, the problem with this book was the grammer had been simplified so that the sentance structures were terribly basic, and thus all sense of style or even the feel that it was a Chinese text had been removed. On the other hand there was a huge ammount of new vocabulary. So I found myself looking up lots of new words, which also disrupted the flow of the story. I only managed to read about two thirds of the first story (which was about a 100 pages in length). It was about a modern American Chinese girl moving to China with her family and marrying into a Chinese family and their cultural clashes. It just really wasn't my sort of thing. The other stories seemed to have similar moralistic type stories and didn't seem to have a more interesting or literary style. So eventually I've decided to give up on this, at least for the time being and read some other Chinese language books.

[Jonathan Mckay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The inline pinyin is annoying, the translations are sloppy, but this is still the best graded reader currently available. Rather than inventing stories with a limited vocabulary, the authors simplified real stories for academic use. As such, the series deals with subjects that Chinese authors want to write about, and is much better for it.

The stories are interesting, the language is not too advanced, I would recommend this to any but the most beginning Chinese language students.

[Steve Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

useful graded reader. good diverse story choice of Chinese contemporary writers. I'd say this was firmly HSK5 level reading. Each line has pinyin on top and they give you a stencil to cover the pinyin. That stencil works but I find it clumsy to use. By the last 75 pages I just took it off.