The Way of Chinese Characters: The Origins of 450 Essential Words

For non-native speakers of Chinese, learning to write Chinese characters can be one of the most challenging aspects of the language. Learners are often asked to memorize characters by simply writing them over and over again, without a basic understanding of their meanings.

The Way of Chinese Characters offers a more holistic approach to character learning that is fun and accessible, yet firmly grounded in academic research on the origins of Chinese characters. Over four hundred of the most essential Chinese characters are presented, each with a concise introduction to its classification and evolution. Illustrations of early writing forms help learners visualize the character's evolution, and cartoon drawings serve as helpful mnemonic devices.

The Way of Chinese Characters is designed for teachers and learners of Chinese at all levels, especially those who are interested in the origins of Chinese characters. The characters presented correspond to the vocabulary introduced in Integrated Chinese, Level 1 Part 1, making The Way of Chinese Characters a perfect character-learning companion for students of Integrated Chinese or any beginning Chinese course. The Expanded Edition incorporates additional characters from the Third Edition of Integrated Chinese, Level 1 Part 1, and retains all the characters from the Second Edition of Integrated Chinese.

The book is bilingual, with character entries in traditional and simplified characters with English. Explanatory text is in traditional characters and English; an appendix contains text in simplified characters. Four useful character indexes arranged by lesson, pinyin, traditional stroke count, and simplified stroke count are also included.

[T]he Way of Chinese Characters is by far the best "context-learning" teaching supplement on the market. Its simplicity is brilliant; its accuracy is scholarly without overwhelming the novice. The pedagogical principles espoused in the Preface are right on. --Scott A. Carpenter, PhD, Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences, Nova Southeastern University, FL