The series
Graded Readers for Chinese Language Learners is composed of 50 books, divided into three subseries, namely folktales, literary stories and historical stories, corresponding to Levels 1-3 respectively. The rich and fun content and easy-to-understand language makes it easy for everyone, whether they are foreigners learning Chinese, children with parents of Chinese origin, ethnic minority students of the Chinese language, or even primary school students in China, to read this series. It enables the readers to gradually improve their Chinese reading skills and enhance their understanding of Chinese culture by reading and enjoying stories.
The “Folktales” subseries includes 10 stories, hence 10 books, adapted from folk legends, each book written in 20,000-30,000 Chinese characters. The titles of the 10 books are Hua Mulan, Lady White Snake, The Cow Herder and the Weaver Girl, A Golden Millet Dream, Chang’e Flying to the Moon, The Old Man under the Moon, The Butterfly Lovers, Nie Xiaoqian, Chen Shimei, and Beauty from the Painting.
The book A Golden Millet Dream tells the story about a young man who dreamt to be a wealthy, high-ranking official. In the story, a young scholar felt it sucked to live in poverty and wished to become a wealthy, powerful, high-ranking official. One day, he met an old man in an inn, who gave him a pillow and asked him to sleep a little while. The young man fell asleep and had a dream in which he experienced the life of a high official. After he woke up, he realized what the most important thing in life was.