The Stories Behind 100 Chinese Idioms: Simplified Characters (Gems of the Chinese Language Through the Ages) (Chinese Edition)

China has a history of 5,000 years of civilization, and the largest population in the world; yet her language, or in a narrower sense, the language of the Han nationality, had not been widely studied by foreigners. This places impediments in the way of cultural and other types of communication between China and the outside world. The Chinese language is a rather difficult one, which is one of the reasons why foreigners often fail to have a profound understanding of it. This is especially the case with the learning of the Chinese classics or writing in archaic Chinese. A lot of literary quotation and allusions are used in them, and many are still used nowadays. Ignorance of these is a prime cause of misunderstanding. I happened to have read a few English translations of classical Chinese, and was sorry to find some mistakes in the translation which were obviously due to incorrect comprehension of the Chinese literary quotation and allusions in the original. It is clear that more ought to be done to help foreigners learn Chinese , especially the Chinese classics in their various forms. Though I am only an amateur in Chinese literature and language, I would like to do my best in this field to share my knowledge with overseas Chinese and English-speaking friends by producing this small book. I hope that it will be of some use in clearing away the obstacles in the way of international understanding.