The major struggle facing all beginning Chinese language students is to learn to recognize, read and write hundreds of Chinese characters. A working knowledge of characters is essential for any student wishing to learn Chinese. The Second 100 Chinese Characters adopts a structural approach that helps students to overcome this initial difficulty and quickly master the basic Chinese characters that are fundamental to this language. This book contains characters that have been carefully selected and sequenced for rapid and effective learning.

For effective learning, memorization and practice, each Chinese character is shown separately on a single page, together with its English definitions, hanyu pinyin romanization, alternate form (if any), a stroke order guide and ample space for writing practice. The stroke order guides introduce the student to the standard stroke sequence used in writing the characters, by tracing over them. After learning the correct stroke order, the student can then practice writing the character on their own, thus reinforcing recognition and memorization. Large boxes with grid lines for correct proportions are provided. Related compounds and phrases containing each character are also included to assist in vocabulary building. Three indexes (alphabetically by the English meanings and the pinyin romanization, and by radicals) are provided at the back of the book for quick and easy reference, along with extra sheets of blank boxes for writing practice. This book features

• The second 100 most frequently-used Chinese characters.
• Foundation characters for the HSK A level language proficiency test.
• Standard hanyu pinyin romanizations.
• Step-by-step stroke order guides and ample space for writing practice.
• Over 500 words and phrases containing the basic characters.
• Concise English definitions.