New Practical Chinese Reader is a series of Chinese Textbooks compiled for the purpose of teaching Chinese to native English speakers or those who use English as their principal second language, It aims to develop the learner's communicative ability in Chinese by learning language structures, functions and related cultural knowledge as well as by training their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The series consists of seventy lessons in six volumes. The first four volumes, consisting of fifty lessons, are for beginners and pre-intermediate level learners. The last two contain twenty lessons for learners at an intermediate level. This set of textbooks is designed for overseas students who either take Chinese as an elective or major in the language for a period of three years, studying about one lesson a week, or one volume a semester. It can also be used by autonomous learners. Each volume comes equipped with a workbook, an instructor's manual, CDs and a DVD.