Designed as an intermediate-level textbook of spoken Chinese, it is the joint enterprise undertaken by American and Chinese scholars. The topics include Chinese geography, history, politics, economy, society, education, philosophy and other aspects of China.
It serves not only to raise readers'proficiency in Chinese but also to increase their knowledge of Chinese culture. The text is printed in simplified Chinese characters, non-simplified Chinese characters and pinyin. English translations are provided for all the examples in the vocabulary and sentence-pattern sections.