Practical Chinese Reader

Practical Chinese Reader is a series of Chinese language teaching books developed to teach non-Chinese speakers to speak Chinese. The reader follows the antics of Palanka and Gubo through various stages. ''Practical Chinese Reader'' is administered by the Chinese Department of Culture and most students of in a classroom setting probably have contact with the book. The course consists of a Chinese reader, character workbook, and grammar workbook.

''New Practical Chinese Reader''

''New Practical Chinese Reader'' was released in 1981 by Beijing Language and Culture University Press, and the original ''Practical Chinese Reader'' was not reprinted. In the new version older words are removed but the sentence structure and grammar remains intact. There are currently six volumes. This book pays homage to the older edition by introducing a new character, Libo, who is the son of Gubo and Ding Yun.

English Version , German version, French Version, Russian version are available. Other language versions are to be published soon.

The characters

Gubo : Young male student, non-Chinese. The name's transliteration is uncertain but Cooper or Gilbert has been suggested.

Palanka : Young female student, non Chinese, Gubo's friend. Chosen as a Western sounding name. Her english name may possibly be Veronica.

Ding Yun : Young female student, Chinese, Palanka's friend.

Ding Libo : Son of Gubo and Ding Yun. Introduced in the ''NPCR''.

Page two of the ''NPCR'' reads:

A Canadian Student,
aged 21, male
Gubo is his father
Ding Yun is his mother.

In accordance with keeping the dialogue the same, the characters are given universal names in translations of the book across all languages.