Chinese Course is a series of comprehensive Chinese learning materials designed for international students studying in China. It consists of 6 volumes, which take a degree-granting institution one year to finish. It is one of the most popular and influential textbook series for undergraduate education targeted at foreigners. The first two editions have sold more than two million copies in total.

This is Book 1A of the third edition, including a total of 15 lessons. Starting from level 0, Book 1A devotes the first 10 lessons into phonetic teaching and then proceeds to the stage of grammar and sentence patterns. Each lesson basically consists of five sections: text, new words, notes, phonetics/grammar, and exercises. The texts are mostly practical conversations; they are where grammar and vocabulary are used. The new words are all common words. The exercises come in diverse types, including comprehension, imitation, communication, etc.

Professor Yang Jizhou of Beijing Language and Culture University has worked in the field of CFL teaching and research and CFL textbook writing for many years. His published works includeTeaching Syllabus of Elementary Chinese for Foreign Students, theChinese Courseseries, theClimbing Upseries, theVocational Chineseseries,1700 Groups of Frequently Used Chinese Synonyms,800 Frequently Used Chinese Function Words,The Commercial Press Learner’s Dictionary of Chinese Idioms,A Handbook of Spoken Chinese Sentences, etc. His major papers include “Order of Grammatical Items in Elementary Level CFL Teaching” and “Issues in the Compilation of Elementary Chinese Textbooks”, etc. Prof. Yang won the 2nd prize of 2001 Beijing (Higher) Education Achievements.