A complete revision. this new version, in Pīnyīn romanization, is aimed at secondary school and college levels. It is an introduction to spoken Pekingese or standard Mandarin, the most widely used Chinese dialect.

Based on a vocabulary of some 600 items, the lessons include dialogues, pronunciation drills, sentence-building games, and substitution exercises. Two lessons are devoted to instruction in Chinese characters. There is a combined glossary-index, supplementary vocabulary, and a detailed suggested study guide.

John DeFrancis is research professor of Chinese at Seton Hall University.