1. This course is intended for beginners of Chinese whose native language is not Chinese.

2. On completing this course the learner should have a command of about 1,000 basic words, 200 sentence patterns. The course includes over 3,000 commonly used sentences, which will enable him to survive in his daily communications.

3. The course book consists of three volumes; each containing 10 lessons and each lesson is divided into three parts. The first two parts introduce new language items together with corresponding practice in sections such as new words, texts, notes, exercises, etc. The third part is composed of reviews and exercises with these sections: new words, pattern drills, comprehensive exercises, pronunciation drills and there is a special section called A Glimpse of Modern Chinese Culture. For regular classroom teaching each part can be taught in an instruction hour (50 minutes), or for intensive classes, each lesson can be taught in two instruction hours (2 x 50 minutes).

The following is a description of the various sections of the course book:
1) Examples of usage 
These are found at the first section of each lesson.
  
2) New words and phrases
These are given before the text with the aim of removing obstacles in vocabulary before dealing with the text. The words and phrases are selected from the Chinese Proficiency Scales (Vocabulary and Chinese Characters), or, rather, from List A of the Scales with a few not in List A but commonly used in modern Chinese.

3) Texts
Each text is a situational dialogue on a functional theme. All the texts are about Fang Xueqin, a Chinese girl, her family, work, life, love, etc. Each is a story which should engage the reader' s interest and, we hope, facilitate learning of the language. Characters, prices, corporations, etc. are not real and are imagined.

4) Notes 
These include explanations and exercises involving important language items to help the learner to grasp basic usage of vocabulary, grammatical, and even character items. In the notes, we deliberately avoid using technical terms and provide the learner with simple formulas and adequate examples.
  
5) Exercises
These are mainly comprehension and imitation exercises and in part three, which is largely revision, there are substitution drills and comprehensive exercises to improve the learner's competency in communication as well as pronunciation drills which address difficulties the learner may experience in pronunciation. The sentence pattern drills can be used with the accompanying audio and video CDs for listening and speaking. All in all, the exercises are aimed at consolidating what was learned in the lesson.

6) A Glimpse of Modern Chinese Culture
We wish to help the learner recognize characters used in daily life, such as those used on shop signs, street signs, traffic signs, etc. and we also provide the learner with a background knowledge of China.
  
7) Writing demonstration
This section demonstrates the stroke order of writing Chinese characters to give the learner a feeling of Chinese characters.

4. The plots of the dialogues are not limited to school life, but extend to other areas of social life, which makes this course book appropriate not only to students, but also to office workers, housewives, etc.

5. This course book is accompanied by a set of audio and video CD/DVD and Software, which are aides to learners, especially those who study by themselves.