Capturing Chinese The Real Story of Ah Q: An Advanced Chinese Reader with Pinyin and Detailed Footnotes to Help Read Chinese Literature (Paperback or Softback)

Lu Xun, the father of modern Chinese literature, is an essential read for the intermediate and advanced student of Chinese. The Real Story of Ah Q is set in the Republican Revolution of 1911 and is one of Lu Xun's best works.

Due to its complex writing system, Chinese is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Full literacy of Chinese requires a working knowledge of three to four thousand Chinese characters and breaking into reading Chinese literature is a daunting task. Capturing Chinese: Lu Xun's The Real Story of Ah Q presents one of the best works of modern Chinese literature as a comprehensive tool to help students of Chinese read Chinese literature in its original form.

Footnotes highlight the more difficult vocabulary and pinyin is provided for the entire text. There is no need to constantly consult a dictionary or to look up difficult characters by radical. Historical events, people, and places are explained throughout and illustrations recreate the scenes. The text used in this book is in simplified characters.

* Full story unabridged in simplified Chinese

* Pinyin for the entire text

* Definitions for difficult vocabulary

* Historical explanations and summaries

* Illustrations throughout

* Free MP3s read by two native speakers

Free audio files of Lu Xun's The Real Story of Ah Q are also included with the purchase of this book and are available for download from the publisher's website. The audio files include both a woman and male speaker.

The author has been studying Chinese for the past eight years. Starting with no background in the language he studied hard at Cornell, went to Beijing, met his beautiful wife, and now speaks Chinese every day. Disappointed with the quality of intermediate and advanced Chinese books, he wrote this book focused on easing the intermediate/advanced student into reading some of China's best literature. He currently lives in Japan where he continues his passion for learning languages. He continues to study Chinese and is in now learning Japanese as well.