The “New Standard Chinese Undergraduate Series” is a set of Chinese undergraduate textbooks based on the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education, adhering to the integration of “structure-function-culture” and upholding comprehensive quality training featured “language + professionalism” throughout. Aiming at better meeting the needs of Chinese language teaching for international students coming to China for undergraduate studies under the new standard, this series is based on the concepts of “diversification, three-dimensionality, innovation and intelligence”, and is mainly tailor-made for international students coming to China for undergraduate studies in Chinese language. Meanwhile, it can be used in relevant training courses at home and abroad, and meet the learning needs of long-term advanced students and self-taught learners coming to China to study Chinese. The whole set is divided into three levels (elementary, intermediate and advanced) and two sequences (horizontal and vertical). The horizontal sequence is divided into four major sections, including Chinese language skills and knowledge, cultural knowledge, translation between Chinese and foreign languages, and business Chinese, while the vertical sequence is based on comprehensive teaching materials, supplemented by teaching materials for listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, which are used throughout the first to the fourth year of undergraduate education, so that the ratio of general skills courses with professional skills and knowledge courses at all levels can be balanced to ensure that students can obtain in-depth and balanced learning effects at all stages of study.

Intermediate Chinese Comprehensive Course is a series of intermediate comprehensive textbooks with 2 volumes in total. This book is the first volume.

Intermediate Chinese Comprehensive Course has 12 lessons in total, each consisting of the learning focus, warm-up, the text, a word list, key words, language points, comprehension and expression exercise of the text, extended reading and exercises, and general knowledge of the language and culture. The topics involved cover interpersonal communication, interesting things of life, study and work, changing concepts of the times, famous historical figures in Chinese culture, people and animals, health and life, psychology and life, as well as geography and cuisine in Chinese culture. Through the study of this textbook, students can learn and master communicative skills such as how to introduce themselves in formal situations (letters), tell an interesting story about themselves, narrate an event in a clear and logical sequence, illustrate the differences and similarities of people’s ideas through concrete examples, imitate to write based on a given passage, introduce a famous person, express their personal opinions and discuss(debate) them, conduct a questionnaire and oral (written) report, tell about their learning experiences and gains.

Zhang Hao, the chief editor, is a professor, doctoral supervisor, and dean of the College of International Chinese Studies, Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). Having been engaged in teaching Chinese as a foreign language for more than 30 years, Professor Zhang has taught in overseas universities in the United States and Canada for nearly 10 years, and has travelled overseas as an expert of Hanban to conduct Chinese teacher training for many times. Her research mainly focuses on Chinese language teaching and cultural communication studies. She has published more than 30 papers in core journals and 6 monographs, and has presided over and participated in 7 provincial and ministerial projects. Professor Zhang has been awarded the Beijing Higher Education Teaching Award and the Beijing Teachers’ Virtues Pioneer Award. As the person in charge, she has declared and won the evaluation of national first-class undergraduate programmes, national first-class courses, Beijing excellent nurturing team, Beijing key first-class majors and so on.

The Intermediate Chinese Comprehensive Course highlights “four combinations” in writing:

The combination of language skills training and critical thinking skills development. The professional development concept of “language skills training + critical thinking skills development” is implemented. On the basis of vocabulary and language point learning, the “Text Comprehension and Expression Exercise” section is set up in conjunction with the topic of the lesson. Through a series of graded and diversified practice activities, learners are helped to develop their ability to express in paragraphs and, at the same time, to develop their critical thinking skills through visualized tools and diversified tasks.

The combination of practicality and fun. The topics of the texts are close to life, allowing students to have something to say, have the ability to say, and say it well. The content of the topic gives students subtle and positive guidance in the cognitive, behavioral and other dimensions. The exercises are set up in a diversified and hierarchical manner, and at the same time, the games, crafts, simulations and other fun activities are integrated.

The combination of coherence and systematicness. As the key link of the series, the Intermediate Chinese Comprehensive Course is the bridge between the elementary and advanced levels. The involved vocabulary focuses on Levels 5 and 6 of the Grading Standards, with volume 2 exploring forward to the higher levels and focusing on vocabulary repetition. Grammar points cover Levels 4, 5 and 6 of the Grading Standards, and reinforce in-depth explanations of elementary language points and lay the groundwork for advanced language points. In terms of style, the two textbooks focus on narrative language materials and expository and argumentative texts respectively, helping students to gradually adapt to the transition from short narrative texts at the elementary level to professional and academic texts at the advanced level.

The combination of traditional culture and modern civilization, Chinese perspective and global identity. The topics of the texts cover the tasks of Levels 5 and 6 of the Grading Standards, taking into account both traditional and modern elements, and discussing global issues from a Chinese perspective.

The Intermediate Chinese Comprehensive Course consists of 2 volumes which can be used in one academic year. In the first semester, it’s recommended to study Intermediate Chinese Comprehensive Course I, consisting of 12 lessons with one lesson be completed in an average of 6-7 class hours (45 minutes per class hour). While it’s recommended to study Intermediate Chinese Comprehensive Course II with one lesson be completed in 7-8 class hours. This book is equipped with supporting courseware, which can be obtained in the resource area of “One Code for One Book” under the scratch silver on the back cover.