Fun with Chinese Characters

The majority of reviews, by far, are overly happy with this, and I am no exception. I bought the first 2 volumes and CANNOT SAY ENOUGH. ITS SUPER ! I read 2 seperate reviews of the book (one in each volume) and I couldn't believe how uptight people are. These cartoons are WONDERFUL and skillfully drawn. One reviewer said he (and his daughter) were offended because of the chinese stereotype characters. THERE IS NOTHING OFFENSIVE IN HERE. And to be honest, these are traditional characters, and dressing they way they did in the old days. If you go to china today, much of the tradition still exists. They even still pull rickshaws. This reviewer was chinese & should come to grips with the traditional appearance of the chinese. I think its wonderful. As for the other reviewer who Loved the book, but felt embarrassed in front of his kid, because women were seen in "traditional" roles preparing food, etc.... damn, get a life. This is still the way in china, and even to a lesser degree in the USA. Why the hell is everyone LOOKING FOR THINGS TO BE OFFENDED AT? DO yourself a favor and buy this book. you won't regret it. Its fantastic & I learned alot. This is a FAMILY book you can share with anyone.

I like this book because of the great number of pictographs. It helps greatly to remember the shape of the each Chinese character and the meaning.This book also can be used as dictionary because of the extented phrases that listed in this book. After you finish 3 volumes of Fun With Chinese Characters, you can pretty much become a Chinese reader.

This book is an excellent sequel to The Straits Times Collection "1", and I would rate it 5 stars, except it is lacking the informative Introduction and Preface that "1" has. If you already have The Straits Times Collection "1", then this is a great follow-on. This book gives a description of each of 153 common Chinese characters. Each character description includes a cartoon to help the reader recall the etymology of each character, which can help novices simply to remember the character. As well, a number of examples of how the character is used in compound phrases are offered. This is the second of a three-part series. Together, they are a great introduction to Chinese characters.