A Reflection of Reality is an anthology of modern Chinese short stories designed as an advanced-level textbook for students who have completed at least three years of college-level Chinese. While many advanced-level Chinese language textbooks stress only practical communication, this textbook uses stories from well-known Chinese authors not only to enhance students’ language proficiency, but also to expose students to the literature, history, and evolution of modern Chinese society.
The twelve stories selected for this textbook are written by such contemporary authors as Yu Hua, Wang Anyi, and Gao Xingjian, and have appeared in various newspapers and magazines in China. Each story is filled with useful sentence structures, vocabulary, and cultural information, and is followed by an extensive vocabulary list, numerous sentence structure examples, grammar exercises, and discussion questions. The textbook also includes a comprehensive pinyin index. A Reflection of Reality will effectively improve students’ Chinese language skills and their understanding of today’s China.
- Advanced-level Chinese language textbook
- Selected short stories reflect contemporary Chinese society and culture
- Extensive vocabulary lists, sentence structure examples, grammar exercises, and discussion questions
- Comprehensive pinyin index
Chih-p’ing Chou is professor of East Asian studies at Princeton University and director of the university’s Chinese language and Princeton in Beijing programs. Liping Yu is senior lecturer in Chinese at the University of Washington. Joanne Chiang is senior lecturer in Chinese at Princeton.
"Chinese instruction is not only about teaching linguistic forms and their usages, but also about helping students obtain knowledge of Chinese culture and society. This timely book successfully achieves both of these goals by exposing students to literary works and language materials that are vivid and rich. A Reflection of Reality sets a model for teaching Chinese."--Lening Liu, Columbia University
"Consisting of short stories by well-known Chinese authors, this pedagogically sound textbook has strong advantages over other advanced textbooks. With useful sentence structures, vocabulary, and historical and cultural information, the stories give students insight into modern Chinese society and provide them with fruitful topics for conversation and composition. Language programs will find the textbook an attractive addition to their curricula." --Stephanie Divo and Qiuyun Teng, Cornell University
Other Princeton books authored or coauthored by Joanne Chiang:
Other Princeton books authored or coauthored by Chih-p'ing Chou: