Clear, readable, and easy to consult, this book is an ideal reference for students to extend their knowledge of Chinese.

Winner of the Chinese Language Teachers Association’s 2014 Cengage Learning Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Chinese Award. Action! China is a practical guide for intermediate to advanced students of Chinese wanting to maximize their study abroad experience and enhance their language skills. This handy guide contains over 90 Field Performance tasks which prompt real-life interactions with native speakers. By carrying out these real-life tasks students refine and solidify existing communication skills and gain a fuller understanding of and participation in the target culture. The guide also provides over 60 Performance Watch tasks which help students understand how native speakers accomplish communicative goals through guided observation and analysis of naturally occurring interactions. Action! China helps students understand and participate socially in Chinese, guiding them through skill-getting and skill-using processes and enabling them to form meaningful connections with Chinese people in the community.

Using Chinese Synonyms is an essential reference book, specifically designed for non-native speakers of Chinese, and for teachers and other language professionals who want a user-friendly guide to the finer nuances of Chinese synonyms. It contains approximately 1700 synonyms in 316 groups. With the particular needs of non-native speakers of Chinese in mind, this invaluable book selects and explains words and phrases in everyday use, allowing students to enhance their knowledge of one of the most important and widely-spoken languages in the world. This book assists in the development of fluent, spontaneous and skilful use of Chinese synonyms.

Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.

Using Chinese Classics for Intercultural Communicative Competence presents new strategies and tools for integrating Mandarin language teaching with fostering intercultural competencies through contemporary, global lenses on Chinese classic texts. Chinese classic texts are canonical works in Chinese culture published before 1911. They offer a window into deeply held cultural values which learners of the Chinese language would benefit from studying to facilitate meaningful intercultural dialogues. With chapters covering classic Chinese texts, such as Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, this book will demonstrate the value, importance, and feasibility of teaching Chinese classic works for ICC development in the Chinese world language classroom, and equip teachers with carefully planned, classroom-tested lesson models that demonstrate the innovative, integrative models advocated in this book. This book will be valuable for pre- and in-service Mandarin Chinese teachers across various institutional settings at different levels, looking for ready materials and professional development resources. The book can also be used as core material for teacher training programs.

One of the Best Cookbooks of 2021 by the New York Times Experience the sublime beauty and flavor of one of the oldest and most delicious cuisines on earth: the food of Shanghai, China’s most exciting city, in this evocative, colorful gastronomic tour that features 100 recipes, stories, and more than 150 spectacular color photographs. Filled with galleries, museums, and gleaming skyscrapers, Shanghai is a modern metropolis and the world’s largest city proper, the home to twenty-four million inhabitants and host to eight million visitors a year. “China’s crown jewel” (Vogue), Shanghai is an up-and-coming food destination, filled with restaurants that specialize in international cuisines, fusion dishes, and chefs on the verge of the next big thing. It is also home to some of the oldest and most flavorful cooking on the planet. Betty Liu, whose family has deep roots in Shanghai and grew up eating homestyle Shanghainese food, provides an enchanting and intimate look at this city and its abundant cuisine. In this sumptuous book, part cookbook, part travelogue, part cultural study, she cuts to the heart of what makes Chinese food Chinese—the people, their stories, and their family traditions. Organized by season, My Shanghai takes us through a year in the Shanghai culinary calendar, with flavorful recipes that go beyond the standard, well-known fare, and stories that illuminate diverse communities and their food rituals. Chinese food is rarely associated with seasonality. Yet as Liu reveals, the way the Shanghainese interact with the seasons is the essence of their cooking: what is on a dinner table is dictated by what is available in the surrounding waters and fields. Live seafood, fresh meat, and ripe vegetables and fruits are used in harmony with spices to create a variety of refined dishes all through the year. My Shanghai allows everyone to enjoy the homestyle food Chinese people have eaten for centuries, in the context of how we cook today. Liu demystifies Chinese cuisine for home cooks, providing recipes for family favorites that have been passed down through generations as well as authentic street food: her mother’s lion’s head meatballs, mung bean soup, and weekday stir-fries; her father-in-law’s pride and joy, the Nanjing salted duck; the classic red-braised pork belly (as well as a riff to turn them into gua bao!); and core basics like high stock, wontons, and fried rice. In My Shanghai, there is something for everyone—beloved noodle and dumpling dishes, as well as surprisingly light fare. Though they harken back centuries, the dishes in this outstanding book are thoroughly modern—fresh and vibrant, sophisticated yet understated, and all bursting with complex flavors that will please even the most discriminating or adventurous palate.