Dream of the Red Chamber

Author: Cao Xueqin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The main feature of this book is to simplify the plot and highlight the story. The four great classical novels are often hundreds of chapters long, nearly a million words, with hundreds of characters, making it difficult for adults to follow, let alone children. This series of books structures the story around the main characters, selecting the most thrilling and spectacular parts. The editor's approach is clear: for lower-grade children, it is important to highlight the main points and focus on the story, while appreciating the subtleties of the original work can wait until the child grows up. This bold adaptation is also suitable for the reading level of lower-grade children, and only those who deeply understand children's reading psychology would handle the original work in this way.
Secondly, pinyin is annotated, and appropriate notes are provided. The purpose of annotating pinyin is to enable children to read independently and gradually transition to literary reading. Annotating seems simple but is actually challenging. If the annotations are too detailed, they may hinder children's reading and make it difficult for them to "assimilate" difficulties in the text. If the annotations are too brief, they may add to the burden of reading for children. This series of books adopts a flexible approach: annotations are avoided as much as possible, except for some ancient proper nouns, such as official titles and place names, to give children enough reading freedom.
Finally, the language of this book. The goal of language teaching in Chinese classes is to expose students to various forms of language.