Summary: This volume is intended for people interested in Chinese history and language. It is an initial step in experiencing the Chinese language. While not a definitive reference to the entire history of Mandarin Chinese, it provides insights into the background of Chinese language and culture.
CONTENTS: The history of Chinese characters - the origins of Chinese characters, the beginning, the first revisions - the simplification of Chinese characters - the future of Chinese characters, codification entry, character element entry, writing pads and wands, phonetic entry
The Chinese language - languages and dialects, Mandarin, Cantonese, other Chinese dialects - the ramanization of Chinese, Wade-Giles, Bopomofo, Pinyin - the structure of Chinese characters, pictographs, ideographs, compound ideographs, phonetic compounds, the monsyllabic question - characteristics of Chinese idioms, structure, historical sources
Chinese language learning in the UK - why learn Chinese - how to learn Chinese
