2With thousands of characters to learn, beginning to read and write Chinese is a daunting task. Aimed at learners, this book takes you through 250 of the commonest characters in a clear and accessible way. The meaning of every character is explained along with information about its radical, the compound words it can form, its history, and more. There is a practice grid on every page, showing how the character is written, with space for you to practice. It is generally agreed that learners of Chinese need a working knowledge of about 100 characters in order to make themselves at all understood and to travel in China, so this book is a great place to start.