Mandarin Millennium Language: Chinese Children and Parents Association Mandarin Language

Introduction; Mandarin Chinese is a language known by few people whose first language is not Chinese. China is playing an important role in this fast growing world, learning Mandarin, an official language of China, will not only improve communication with the Chinese but it will also serve as an essential channel to becoming closer to Chinese life and culture. In the last few years, more and more people have become attracted by Mandarin Chinese. As an organisation with the objective to promote the Chinese Language and Culture to the next generation, we are very happy to invite Helena Hicks, Robert Hicks and Wu Na to compose this book. The production will be sent to all the schools and relevant organisations in Gloucestershire. All the proceeds will be used to support the development of the Gloucestershire Mandarin School. The book 'Mandarin - Millennium Language' will be for those who have expressed an interest in Chinese history and language. It will also be an initial step to experience the Chinese Language. We do not claim that this book is a definitive reference to the entire history of Mandarin Chinese, nevertheless, we are hoping it will give an insight into the varying backgrounds that enrich our knowledge of the Chinese language and culture. We are grateful for the grant aid of 'Awards For All' without which this book would not have been possible. We hope you will find this book interesting and useful for your Chinese study. The information contained within this book is based on the authors' personal experiences, knowledge and research. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information presented within is accurate and unbiased. Neither the authors, the publishers nor the organisation will be held liable for any errors or omissions. All comments are welcome, and should be addressed to the organisation.

Table of Contents:
The history of Chinese characters: the origins of Chinese characters, the beginning, the first revisions; the simplification of Chinese characters; the future of Chinese characters, codification entry, character element entry, writing pads and wands, phonetic entry. The Chinese language: languages and dialects, Mandarin, Cantonese, other Chinese dialects; the ramanization of Chinese, Wade-Giles, Bopomofo, Pinyin; the structure of Chinese characters, picotgraphs, ideographs, compound ideographs, phonetic compounds, the monsyllabic question; characterics of Chinese idioms, structure, historical sources. Chinese language learning in the UK: why learn Chinese; how to learn Chinese.