New Practical Chinese Reader (NPCR)

New Practical Chinese Reader (NPCR) is the second generation of the Practical Chinese Reader series and is a series of comprehensive Chinese learning resources for adult students in countries other than China. The two generations together have been influential in international Chinese education circles for more than 30 years. The third edition focuses on a few international students, who tell interesting stories about their lives and friendships with their Chinese friends and teachers in China.

The revision relating to the third edition adheres to the goal of making it ‘easier to learn’ for students and ‘more convenient to use’ for teachers and maintains the pedagogy of ‘integrating structure, function and culture’, striving to develop students' comprehensive use of the Chinese language, especially the possibility of intercultural communication, through the learning of language structures, functions and relevant cultural knowledge, as well as training in listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

About the author

Liu Xun is a professor at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) and editor-in-chief and reviewer of Chinese textbooks at Beijing Language and Cultural University Press. Liu has successively been a member of the National HSK Advisory Committee, a member of the TCSL Expert Advisory Committee of Hanban, a board member of the World Chinese Teaching Association, an advisor on Chinese education for the New York State Department of Education, a visiting professor at Renmin University of China and Beijing Foreign Studies University, and a member and leader of the academic committee of BLCU. He worked as a lecturer at Ohio State University, University of Maryland, Middlebury College and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and gave lectures or academic reports in Australia, Britain, Canada, Norway, Russia, Egypt, Thailand, Singapore, Macau and Taiwan, among others. Liu won the Canadian TCSL Maple Award in 2014. His publications include monographs such as Introduction to Chinese as a Foreign Language Pedagogy, Introduction to Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, Brief Introduction to Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, An Overall View of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, and widely popular CSL textbooks such as New Practical Chinese Reader, Practical Chinese Reader, and Chinese Textbook for Children. Mr Liu received a special government grant from the State Council of China.