Summary

Tales and traditions is another set of graded readers by Cheng & Tsui that focuses on providing level-appropriate, interesting reading material to support students in attaining Chinese fluency. In this series, you will find poems, stories, and anecdotes written in both simplified and traditional characters, with discussion questions and vocabulary lists to guide your learning. For additional support, Pleco‘s OCR reader or handwriting function can help you identify new words, which you can then add to your Anki or Pleco flashcard decks. This series (or the Readings in Chinese Culture series) could be your next step after Chinese Breeze or Mandarin Companion. Volume 1 is appropriate for advanced beginners (A1 on the CEFR scale), while volume 4 is appropriate for Advanced (B2) learners — you can see the ACTFL and CEFR comparisons in this document. While Volumes 1 and 2 contain fables, myths, and introductions to festivals and historical figures, Volume 3 focuses more on poems, myths, and love stories. Once you reach Volume 4, you will explore excerpts from classic Chinese novels. You may not find every text equally as engaging, but each of them will take you deeper into Chinese culture and refine your reading skills through repetition and level-appropriate language. Alternatively, you can read plenty of graded articles and stories online with Du Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao.