How to Begin Chinese: The Hundred Best Characters

Herbert Giles' How to Begin Chinese: The Hundred Best Characters is a foundational text for English speakers learning written Chinese. The book introduces learners to 100 essential Chinese characters selected for their practical value and frequency of use. The text provides pronunciation guides, stroke order demonstrations, and contextual examples for each character. Students progress through increasingly complex characters while building vocabulary through compound words and basic sentence structures. The methodology emphasizes learning characters in a practical sequence rather than by difficulty level. Cultural notes and historical origins of select characters add depth to the learning experience. This systematic approach to Chinese character acquisition reflects Giles' belief that mastery of a core set of characters creates a strong foundation for further language study. The work stands as an early example of structured Chinese pedagogy for Western learners.

There are not enough internet reviews to create a summary of this book. Instead, here is a summary of reviews of Herbert Giles's overall work: Readers value Giles' scholarly translations while noting their historical context and dated language. His Chinese-English dictionary receives praise for its thoroughness but criticism for archaic definitions. Liked: - Clear explanations of Chinese concepts for Western readers - Detailed footnotes and commentary providing cultural context - Professional but accessible writing style - Comprehensive coverage in his dictionary entries Disliked: - Victorian-era English that can feel stilted to modern readers - Some translations criticized as overly literal - Occasional Western cultural biases in interpretations - Outdated romanization system compared to pinyin On Goodreads, Giles' translations of Chinese classics average 3.8-4.2 stars. His "History of Chinese Literature" (1901) maintains a 3.9 rating across 89 reviews. Amazon reviews note his works are "academically solid but require patience with the formal language." Several academic reviewers cite his dictionary as "thorough but showing its age." Modern readers recommend his works primarily for scholarly research rather than casual reading.

Essential Chinese Characters by Philip Yungkin Lee This guide presents 350 fundamental Chinese characters with clear stroke orders, etymology, and example sentences.

Reading and Writing Chinese by William McNaughton, Li Ying The text breaks down 2,000 characters into basic components and provides memory techniques based on character origin stories.

Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary by Rick Harbaugh The reference work organizes characters by visual relationships and radical elements to show connections between character forms and meanings.

Learning Chinese Characters by Alison Matthews, Laurence Matthews The book teaches 800 high-frequency characters through illustrated narratives that link character shapes to their definitions.

Chinese Characters Then and Now by Verner Bickley and Benny Kriger The text traces the evolution of 100 essential characters from ancient pictographs to modern forms with historical context.

🈷️ Herbert Giles, the author, created the influential Wade-Giles romanization system for Mandarin Chinese, which was the dominant system in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century. 📚 Published in 1907, this book was one of the first Western textbooks to focus on teaching Chinese characters through frequency of use rather than by traditional radicals or stroke order. 🎓 Giles served as Professor of Chinese at Cambridge University (1897-1932) and never actually lived in China, though he spent 25 years as a British diplomat in various Chinese cities. ✍️ The "hundred best characters" were selected based on their utility in forming compound words and their frequency in classical Chinese literature, making it one of the earliest attempts at corpus-based language teaching. 🌏 Many of Giles' translations and works, including this book, helped establish Chinese studies as a serious academic discipline in Western universities, though some of his interpretations have since been challenged by modern scholars.