Search query: mandarincompanion

Product: The Rise of the Monkey King: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level (Journey to the West (in Simplified Chinese) Book 1)
Description: This is the 1st book in the best-selling The Journey to the West series of stories for students learning to read Chinese. It is based on the epic 16th century novel of the same name by Wu Chen’en. That novel was inspired by an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Tangseng, who traveled from Chang’an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned seventeen years later with priceless knowledge and spiritual texts. Over the course of the book Tangseng and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood.

Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films.

The full story of Sun Wukong’s adventures is told in Journey To The West, an epic 2,000 page novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Cheng’en. Journey To The West is probably the most famous and best-loved novel in China and is considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. Its place in Chinese literature is roughly comparable to Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey in Western literature. Wikipedia sums up the book’s role perfectly, saying “Enduringly popular, the tale is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment by the power and virtue of cooperation.”

Journey To The West is a very, very long story, consisting of a hundred chapters. It is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang’an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book Xuanzang and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood.

This book, The Rise of the Monkey King, covers the events in the first two chapters of this epic story. We learn how the little stone monkey is born, becomes king of his troop of monkeys, leaves his home to pursue enlightenment, receives the name Sun Wukong (literally, “ape seeking the void”) from his teacher, and returns home to defend his subjects from a ravenous monster.

Because of this story’s importance in Chinese culture, we’ve made every effort to remain faithful to the original while retelling it in simple language suitable for beginning Chinese learners at the HSK 3 level. We have tried to not add or change anything, though of course we’ve had to leave out a lot of detail. Wherever we had to use a word or phrase not contained in the 600-word HSK3 vocabulary (which for example does not include the word “monkey”!) or that has not entered common usage since the HSK lists were created, those new words are defined in footnotes on the page where they first appear. New compound (multi-character) words and expressions are, whenever possible, chosen so that they use characters already in HSK3. An English version of the story is included for reference at the end, as well as a complete glossary.

The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK3. It is presented in Simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and glossary. A free audiobook is available on YouTube’s Imagin8 Press channel and also on www.imagin8press.com.
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Product: The Country of the Blind: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers: Level 1, Simplified Chinese Edition
Description: “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” repeats in Chen Fangyuan’s mind after he finds himself trapped in a valley holding a community of people for whom a disease eliminated their vision many generations before and no longer have a concept of sight. Chen Fangyuan quickly finds that these people have developed their other senses to compensate for their lack of sight. His insistence that he can see causes the entire community to believe he is crazy. With no way out, Chen Fangyuan begins to accept his fate until one day the village doctors believe they now understand what is the cause of his insanity…those useless round objects in his eye sockets.

Mandarin Companion is a series of easy-to-digest novels in Chinese that are fun to listen to and proven to accelerate language learning. Every book in the Mandarin Companion series is carefully written to use characters, words, and grammar that a learner is likely to know.

Level 1 is written using approximately 300 unique Chinese characters and intended for Chinese learners at an upper-elementary level. Most learners will be able to approach this book after one to two years of formal study, depending on the learner and program. This series is designed to combine simplicity of characters with an easy-to-understand storyline that helps beginners grow their vocabulary and language comprehension abilities.

Please note: This audiobook is in Mandarin Chinese.
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Product: Just Friends?: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Breakthrough Level, Simplified Chinese Edition
Brand: Mind Spark Press LLC
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Product: Xiao Ming, Boy Sherlock: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Breakthrough Level (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: In Search of Hua Ma: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Breakthrough Level, Simplified Chinese Edition
Brand: Mind Spark Press LLC
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Product: My Teacher is a Martian: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Breakthrough Level, Traditional Chinese Edition
Brand: Mind Spark Press LLC
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Product: My Teacher is a Martian: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Breakthrough Level, Simplified Chinese Edition
Brand: Mind Spark Press LLC
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Product: The Misadventures of Zhou Haisheng: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Breakthrough Level, Simplified Chinese Edition
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: The Prince and the Pauper: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1, Simplified Character Edition (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: Journey to the Center of the Earth: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 2, Traditional Character Edition (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: Journey to the Center of the Earth: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 2 (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: Great Expectations: Part 1: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 2 (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: The Sixty Year Dream: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1 (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Curly Haired Company: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1 (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: The Secret Garden: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1 (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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Product: Emma: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1, Simplified Character Edition (Chinese Edition)
Brand: Mandarin Companion
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