A Reflection of Reality: Selected Readings in Contemporary Chinese Short Stories (The Princeton Language Program: Modern Chinese): 36 - Softcover

Chou, Chih–p`ing; Yu, Liping; Chiang, Joanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 069116293X ISBN 13: 9780691162935

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2014

Synopsis

A Reflection of Reality is an anthology of modern Chinese short stories designed as an advanced-level textbook for students who have completed at least three years of college-level Chinese. While many advanced-level Chinese language textbooks stress only practical communication, this textbook uses stories from well-known Chinese authors not only to enhance students' language proficiency, but also to expose students to the literature, history, and evolution of modern Chinese society. The twelve stories selected for this textbook are written by such contemporary authors as Yu Hua, Wang Anyi, and Gao Xingjian, and have appeared in various newspapers and magazines in China. Each story is filled with useful sentence structures, vocabulary, and cultural information, and is followed by an extensive vocabulary list, numerous sentence structure examples, grammar exercises, and discussion questions. The textbook also includes a comprehensive pinyin index. A Reflection of Reality will effectively improve students' Chinese language skills and their understanding of today's China. * Advanced-level Chinese language textbook * Selected short stories reflect contemporary Chinese society and culture* Extensive vocabulary lists, sentence structure examples, grammar exercises, and discussion questions* Comprehensive pinyin index

About this title

About the Author

Chih-p'ing Chou is professor of East Asian studies at Princeton University and director of the university's Chinese language and Princeton in Beijing programs. Liping Yu is senior lecturer in Chinese at the University of Washington. Joanne Chiang is senior lecturer in Chinese at Princeton.

From the Back Cover

"Chinese instruction is not only about teaching linguistic forms and their usages, but also about helping students obtain knowledge of Chinese culture and society. This timely book successfully achieves both of these goals by exposing students to literary works and language materials that are vivid and rich. A Reflection of Reality sets a model for teaching Chinese."--Lening Liu, Columbia University

"Consisting of short stories by well-known Chinese authors, this pedagogically sound textbook has strong advantages over other advanced textbooks. With useful sentence structures, vocabulary, and historical and cultural information, the stories give students insight into modern Chinese society and provide them with fruitful topics for conversation and composition. Language programs will find the textbook an attractive addition to their curricula." --Stephanie Divo and Qiuyun Teng, Cornell University

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A Reflection of Reality

Selected Readings in Contemporary Chinese Short Stories

By Chih-p'ing Chou, Liping Yu, Joanne Chiang

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2014 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-691-16293-5

PREFACE

A Reflection of Reality is the first anthology of modern Chinese short stories that the Chinese Language Program at Princeton University has developed over the past 25 years. This textbook is designed for those who have completed three years of college Chinese. Princeton University Press has published several titles for the advanced level students, such as All Things Considered, A Kaleidoscope of China, Anything Goes, China's Own Critics, Literature and Society, and China's Peril and Promise. None of these books were devoted to contemporary Chinese short stories. We have been working on this anthology for the past ten years and Chinese Linguistics Project has been distributing this textbook for adoption in the classroom by several universities.

Many advanced Chinese language textbooks have been taking a very practical approach, such as branching into Business Chinese. We believe that in order to improve students' Chinese proficiency, especially at the advanced level, a more general, non-specific, content base is necessary. A Reflection of Reality takes a different direction in its pedagogical approach by presenting a selection of twelve short-stories written by contemporary authors. These stories appeared in various newspapers and magazines published in China and reflect contemporary Chinese society from various perspectives in the hopes of covering all walks of life. We believe this textbook will not only improve students' language proficiency, but enhance their understanding of contemporary China. Hence, this textbook can be adopted for language as well as contemporary Chinese literature courses.

Chih-p'ing Chou
Liping Yu
Joanne Chiang

May 1, 2014

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Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069116293X
• ISBN 13: 9780691162935
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432