Short-Term Spoken Chinese is a serial textbooks compiled for foreign students who study in short-term Chinese training programs. It mainly aims  to  develop  the  students’  communication  skills.  There  are altogether five volumes corresponding to five levels which fall into the elementary, intermediate and advanced categories according to the Standards of Chinese Proficiency in order to meet the different needs of short-term learning. This series gives detailed division of teaching contents and emphasizes the training communication skills. The selected linguistic materials are practical, lively and vivid, illustrated with pictures and supplemented with speaking exercises. Since its publication in 1999, Short-Term Spoken Chinese has been well-received  by  teachers  and  learners  home  and  abroad  and has  become  the  best-selling  textbook  for  short-term  training  of spoken Chinese. The compilers have made revision to the contents, replacing out-of-date texts according to social development to keep it timely and realistic since 2005. At the same time, some language points are also adjusted according to the feedbacks from years of classroom teaching. The layout is also improved to be more user-friendly.