The series Graded Readers for Chinese Language Learners is composed of 50 books, divided into three subseries, namely folktales, literary stories and historical stories, corresponding to Levels 1-3 respectively. The rich and fun content and easy-to-understand language makes it easy for everyone, whether they are foreigners learning Chinese, children with parents of Chinese origin, ethnic minority students of the Chinese language, or even primary school students in China, to read this series. It enables the readers to gradually improve their Chinese reading skills and enhance their understanding of Chinese culture by reading and enjoying stories.

The “Literary Stories” subseries is based on the Four Great Classical Novels in ancient China. From each novel some epic snippets are extracted and adapted into 4-6 books, each with 20-30 thousand characters. Altogether there are 20 books in the subseries, six of which are from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, four from Water Margin, six from Journey to the West and four from Dream of the Red Chamber.

Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels, tells the story of 108 heroes at the end of Northern Song Dynasty, Song Jiang as their head, who gathered together and rose in rebellion and then were recruited by the government to fight battles. There are four books in this series based on this novel, namely Driven to Join the Liangshan Rebels, The Corrupt Official’s Birthday Gift, Wu Song, and Song Jiang.

Driven to Join the Liangshan Rebels tells how Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen and others were forced to become Liangshan rebels. Lin Chong was the coach of 800,000 imperial guards. Gao Qiu’s foster son had his eye on Lin Chong’s wife and tried several times to take her but failed. He then plotted against Lin Chong and tricked Lin Chong into the forbidden military conference room. For that reason, Lin Chong was tattooed on the face and banished to Cang Zhou and was almost killed by the escorts on the way. Fortunately, he was saved by Lu Zhishen. But Gao Qiu’s son wouldn’t stop. He sent men to kill Lin Chong, who were killed by Lin Chong instead. Lin Chong had no choice but to go to Liangshan with the help of Lord Chai. 

Ms. Chen Xianchun is a professor at Beijing Language and Culture University who has engaged in the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language since 1975, equipped with rich Chinese teaching experience. Professor Chen has made profound research into the teaching of Chinese reading and has published, in addition to more than 20 academic papers, many monographs and textbooks such as Teaching Reading and Psychology, Typical Characters and Events in Chinese Culture, A Primer on Modern Chinese Reading, An Intensive Chinese Course, and Read This Way.