Developing Writing Skills in Chinese

Developing Writing Skills in Chinese has been devised for post-intermediate students who need to write Chinese in the course of their life, work or study.

Each unit covers a specific style of writing and is reinforced with a rich selection of model texts. All texts are followed by supporting notes examining the formats, styles, grammar structures or special phrases featured. A wide variety of exercises are featured throughout, and each unit concludes with a helpful glossary given in Chinese characters, pinyin and English translations. An answer key is also included in the back of the book.

The following writing styles and genres are covered:

• Personal correspondence―greetings and condolences, explanations and apologising, making arrangements and keeping in touch
• Formal writing―announcements and adverts, letters of enquiry and application, business correspondence, developing an argument, facts and data
• Narration―story narratives, reporting speech, exemplifying and summarising
• Description and comparison―outlining people’s characters, physical attributes and appearance, places and weather

This new edition has been comprehensively revised and updated throughout. It includes a brand-new chapter on narratives and there is new coverage of digital communication methods such as text messages and emails. An additional English-Chinese glossary is also available for free download at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415678896/

Developing Writing Skills in Chinese will help students to write coherently, clearly and appropriately in a variety of contexts. It is suitable for both classroom and self-study use.

Boping Yuan is Reader in Chinese Language and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow and Director of Studies in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Churchill College, Cambridge.

Kan Qian is Lecturer in Chinese at The Open University, UK.