The twenty lessons in this book provide lively and colloquial dialogues iintroducing first- or second-year students to Chinese suitable in China. The lessons demonstrate sentences used in everyday situations and familiarize the student with the simplified characters and pinyin transcription now used. There are drills of new patterns, mini-dialogues to encourage spontaneous speaking, explanatory notes on the proper use of structure and vocabulary, and cultural notes that add illuminating and useful details of social custom.