Tales and Traditions: Readings in Chinese Literature Series

by Yun Xiao, Hui Xiao, Ying Wand

Just as children gain literacy in their native language by reading, learners of a foreign language must read large amounts of level-appropriate books and material to attain fluency in their target language. Tales and Traditions was specifically created to help learners of Chinese achieve that goal, by collecting the most well-known works in the Chinese literary canon in a series of convenient supplementary readers.

Perfect for pleasure reading outside of class, or class instruction, Tales and Traditions exposes students to a wealth of information essential for the development of cultural fluency in Chinese.

This first volume for beginning learners contains fables and literary quotations, sayings and stories from classical philosophers, and myths and legends that are at the heart of Chinese traditional culture. This series of readings will be especially welcomed as the AP® Chinese Language and Culture exam requires knowledge of China's literary, cultural, and historical traditions.

Genres: China

261 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2007

Reviews

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

July 2017: Rereading

July 2015: These are nice, short fables familiar to every Chinese person - the Eastern version of Aesop. Each story appears in traditional and simplified characters, with and without pinyin, and in English, giving the reader a wide range of options for study in just one text. Also included are comprehension questions and discussion questions for expansion of the topic. Thank goodness there is more than one volume!

[Ethan Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone with HSK 4-5 ish reading competence, this was an easy text to read. But, despite its simplicity, this is the first graded reader that I actually enjoyed reading. The texts are all ancient stories and legends that, while almost universally known by Chinese, tend not to be known by English speakers. Hence, I read these with real anthropological interest. Also, folktales and anecdotes are just good, memorable stories that retain their interest even in simple language. I plan to read the rest of this series.

[John Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the best beginner level Chinese reader I've come across with the possible exception of the Mandarin Companion series. Much better than the Chinese breeze or Sinolingua readers. Was a far too easy for me though. Would recommend for someone with about a year (or the equivalent of two college semesters) of Chinese practice.

[Jeremy Carman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good set of beginner stories.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the story selection in this book. It helps fill in the gaps of my Chinese cultural knowledge, while helping me practice reading with a limited character set.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would definitely recommend this to students studying Chinese. I would say it corresponds to about 2nd year? The stories are quite simple, and it includes vocabulary, English summaries and study questions. It is very good extra reading practice. The stories are slightly simplified versions of idiom stories, Historical figures (in this one it was all men) and fables. It's the first in quite a big series. If I were still at university I would definitely be checking them out of the library and reading them all and I would recommend the same to other students. As I'm a bit beyond this now I'm not sure I'll be buying any more, as it is a bit too simple for me, but still highly recommended.