This volume opens up new vistas for the further advancement of your knowledge of Chinese, employing the same method as Volume I: a way of learning Chinese taking into account its uniqueness as a written language of characters. In 25 lessons an addition of 500 of the most frequently used characters is introduced in a wider context of about 4,000 words formed with them.
   
The total 900 characters introduced in the two volumes allow you to recognize 90% of the Chinese characters met with in everyday reading.
   
Mastering this volume will enable you to reach a level corresponding to two years of university studies.
   
The contents of these texts are very diversified, including extracts from literature, Beijing opera themes, Chinese traditional medicine, advertisements, customs and traditions, news briefs, ancient tales, letters to the editor, etc....

Joel Bellassen, born in 1950, studied at the Beijing Language Institute and Beijing University from 1973 to 1975. At present he is an associate professor at the Seventh University of Pads and chairman of the French Association of Chinese Language Teachers. He is a specialist in Chinese language didactics and author.