Purple Culture : RSS Products Feed :: Ancient Chinese

Jump High - A Systematic Chinese Course: Ancient Chinese (volume 2)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 19:49:11 +0800

Level: Intermediate ,Advanced ; College ,Adults

This book is designed for foreigners to learn classical Chinese, suitable for students with intermediate or advanced Chinese proficiency. It is divided into two volumes. Each lesson is composed of several well-arranged parts, including texts, notes, new words, grammar notes, classical Chinese knowledge, exercises, and extracurricular reading. All the texts are extracts from famous classical writings, being short in length, informative and interesting; with the learners’ specific backgrounds and language proficiency taken into consideration, the grammar notes are written in explicit and concise language, supported by example sentences from the texts; apart from linguistic knowledge, the part of classical Chinese knowledge also introduces relevant information about traditional culture in ancient China, such as mountains, rivers, and calendar in ancient times, annotations of ancient books, names of ancient people, etc. This is volume 2 of the book, including altogether 15 lessons, each with 1-2 texts to be taught in 2-4 class hours. Having finished this volume, students will become more interested in classical Chinese and, more importantly, be able to understand classical Chinese and ancient Chinese culture from a deeper perspective.

About the Author
Dr. Wang Jianxi, born in Xinzheng of Henan Province, is the Associate Professor in the College of Chinese Language & Culture, Beijing Normal University. Majoring in Chinese philology (especially the history of Chinese language), he is engaged in the teaching and research of Chinese philology and TCFL.

Introduction to Classical Chinese (with Answer Key to Exercises and 1 MP3)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 21:55:20 +0800

Level: Advanced
This book is compiled for overseas students who are just beginning to study classical Chinese. There are 20 lessons altogether in this book, all of which were selected from the most classical works from the Pre-Qin to Ming and Qing dynasties. The texts and supplementary reading materials are annotated in pinyin. Traditional Chinese characters, modern Chinese translation and English translation are provided for each text and the key words are annotated in Chinese and English. A number of sample sentences are used to explain the important grammatical points/ knowledge in classical Chinese. Simplified Chinese and English translations are provided to explain the cultural knowledge related to this lesson.

A manual of key to the exercises and 1 MP3 are attached to this book.
About the Author
Ying Tian is working as a Professor of Classical Chinese at Langara College of Canada.

Common Use Character Dictionary of Ancient Chinese (6th edition)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:34:51 +0800

荣获首届中国辞书奖一等奖，学习古汉语必备工具书
北京大学蒋绍愚教授主持修订
中学生、语文教师、大学中文系学生必备工具书
曾荣获首届中国辞书奖一等奖，迄今发行量超过千万册
本次修订内容主要包括：
1. 增加了一些常用的义项。
2. 完善了释义，释义更精准、易于理解。
3. 更新了部分例句，例句更典型，更能帮助读者理解释义。
4. 修改了引书体例。
5. 根据《通用规范汉字表》全面调整了字头和释义用字。

Classical Chinese for Modern Usage (Volume 1)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 08:09:14 +0800

This series provides basic knowledge of ancient Chinese for the better use of current Chinese. The 1st volume has 16 lessons, each of which introduces the current usage of 3-4 ancient words or phrases, 2-4 grammar points to differentiate the ancient and current language usage, and two character radicals to improve the students’ ability in reading and writing characters and reading comprehension. Most of the texts are stories about idiomatic phrases and ancient fables, with vivid and interesting plots. Exercises are varied in forms, to cultivate the students’ feeling for ancient Chinese. Cultural knowledge and language points are also provided to lead students into a vast and wonderful land of Chinese culture. Integrating the learning of ancient language and current language, it is a series boasts innovative design and vivid content.

本教材是为更好地学习现代汉语而编的基础古代汉语教材。上册共16课。每课3～4条“古语今用”,展现古语的应用价值；2～4个语法点,分析古今汉语的表达异同；2个偏旁,提高汉字认读和书面理解能力。课文多为成语故事或古代寓言,情节生动有趣；练习形式多样,全面培养学生的古代汉语语感；介绍文化常识及语言知识,引领学生通往广阔的汉语文化世界。本教材注重学习古代汉语和学习现代汉语相结合,是一套比较新颖、生动的古代汉语教材。
本书大致分为三类:单项练习:针对一个知识点而设计的练习；综合练习:针对几个知识点而设计的练习；创造性练习:提供一些案例、事实、材料,使考生应用所学到的理论、观点、方法创造性地解决问题。

Jump High - A Systematic Chinese Course: Selected Readings of Classical Chinese (I)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 14:38:17 +0800

Level: Intermediate

The Selected Readings of Classical Chinese in the series Jump High�A Systematic Chinese Course (I) includes 15 lessons, with a total of 23 texts, which are mainly fables taken from various classics from the Pre-Qin period in the Chinese history. The texts are of moderate difficulty and cover various subjects, such as military affairs, politics, debate and education in ancient times, which make the book both informative and interesting.

The book is well structured, with each lesson divided into five parts, namely "text", "title interpretation", "word notes", "grammar explanations" and "exercises", through which the words, expressions, grammar points and cultural backgrounds relevant to the text are comprehensively introduced and reinforced.

At the end of the book, there is a final test and its reference answers, the modern Chinese version of all the texts and an index to functional words provided to assist with classroom teaching and after-class study.

It is suggested that four class hours be devoted to the book each week so that it can be finished within one academic semester.

About the Author
With a Ph.D. degree got from the Chinese Department of Peking University, Mr. Cui Libin is now a teacher in the College of Chinese Language & Culture, Beijing Normal University, who has many years' experience in teaching foreign students classical Chinese and other relevant courses.

History of Ancient Chinese Linguistics (4th Edition)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 10:42:34 +0800

本书是对中国古代语言学的全面总结。按先秦、两汉、魏晋南北朝、隋唐宋、元明、清分期，系统、详尽地论述了语言学在各个历史时期的特色和发展，对各时期语言学著作进行了全面深入的考订和评介。全书史料丰富，条理清晰，论述翔实，见解精辟，具有很高的学术价值。入选“九五”“十五”国家级规划教材。

About Author

何九盈，北京大学中文系教授，博士生导师。主要著作有：《上古音》、《中国现代语言学史》、《古汉语音韵学述要》等。合著有《古韵通晓》、《古代汉语》、《实用文言辞典》等。

Classical Chinese: IGCSE Chinese As A First Language (IGCSE 0509 )

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 19:54:46 +0800

The book is compiled based on the requirements and example questions of the newly added "Classical Chinese Writings Reading Section" in the IGCSE (0509）Syllabus (2020 Version) to help students improve their skills in reading classical Chinese writings. Twenty classical Chinese short passages written during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were selected for this book, and the Mock Test, Explanation and Exercises are provided to help students master their problem-solving skills and enhance their reading abilities. Moreover, special emphasis is placed on the explanation and exercises of key notional words and functional words.

Classical Chinese for Modern Usage vol.2

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 21:07:56 +0800

Usage Advice
For Sophomore foreign students majoring in Chinese language; non-native Chinese students above HSK 6; 2 class hours / lesson, altogether 16 lessons

Level
Intermediate, Advanced

Volume II of Classical Chinese for Modern Usage has altogether 16 lessons. In addition to texts telling stories about Chinese idioms and fables, there are argumentative essays with the length of about 200 words.

Classical Chinese for Modern Usage is a series of basic classical Chinese textbooks to help foreign students achieve better mastery of modern Chinese. With interesting stories and argumentative essays, and a variety of exercises, it helps to cultivate students’ sense of classical Chinese comprehensively. In each lesson, there are 3 to 4 items of "Classical Chinese for Modern Use" through which the value of classical language is demonstrated; 2 to 4 grammar points to compare the classical and modern Chinese; two Chinese character radicals to help improve students’ skills of reading characters as well as passages; and one short article on Chinese culture or language to lead students into a broad world of learning.

About the Author
Li Luxing is an associate professor in the School of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, Renmin University of China. He graduated from the Department of Chinese, Nankai University in 1986, and got his MA from the Institute of Language and Philology, Renmin University of China in 1991. From 1999 to 2000, he was a Chinese teacher in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Durham; from 2006 till present, he taught Chinese in the Confucius Institute, University College Dublin. His main interests lie in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, modern Chinese character study, etc. He has compiled several Chinese textbooks including Chinese Fast Reading: A Step-by-step Approach, Fazhan Hanyu, Intensive Training for HSK, etc., and has published a number of papers and academic works including Brief Introduction to Modern Chinese Character Study, History of Teaching Chinese as A Foreign Language in New China, Research on the Quality of Teachers Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and Training of TCFL Teachers, etc.

The Ancient Chinese Commonly-used Words Dictionary

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 10:53:41 +0800

Classical Chinese Textbook vol.1 (Grade 2)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 15:20:26 +0800

Level
Intermediate, Advanced

Altogether there are three volumes, each of which is divided into two volumes. The first two are used in the first semester, the third used in the second semester. The course is divided into three stages: the phonetic stage for developing the pronunciation skills and learning common characters, the grammar stage for developing simple communication skills through conversations, and the lexical stage for expanding vocabulary through essays reading, and developing the ability to express themselves. Grammar, words and sentences are put into the real life situations. The textbook consists of six parts: text, new word, explanatory notes , grammar , pronunciation and exercises, containing 100 texts and 3,300 new words in all. Since the publication in 1999, Chinese Course has been receiving warm welcome from the learners and teachers. To meet the increasing needs for the book, it was revised and published again with the joint efforts of the author and the Beijing Language and Culture Universtiy Press. Based on the original frame, the revised edition reduced the number of lessons from 100 to 76, and the degree of difficulty is lowered to enable it to be finished within one year. Outdate texts are deleted, and the contents are revised to make the book timely. The explanations of language points are also modified, and the order is rearranged to make it more convenient for teaching

Selected Ancient Chinese Literary Works

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 22:13:44 +0800

Level: Advanced

College, Adults

Classical Chinese Texbook vol.2 (Grade 3)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 15:03:01 +0800

Level
Advanced, 汉语研究者

Altogether there are three volumes, each of which is divided into two volumes. The first two are used in the first semester, the third used in the second semester. The course is divided into three stages: the phonetic stage for developing the pronunciation skills and learning common characters, the grammar stage for developing simple communication skills through conversations, and the lexical stage for expanding vocabulary through essays reading, and developing the ability to express themselves. Grammar, words and sentences are put into the real life situations. The textbook consists of six parts: text, new word, explanatory notes , grammar , pronunciation and exercises, containing 100 texts and 3,300 new words in all. Since the publication in 1999, Chinese Course has been receiving warm welcome from the learners and teachers. To meet the increasing needs for the book, it was revised and published again with the joint efforts of the author and the Beijing Language and Culture Universtiy Press. Based on the original frame, the revised edition reduced the number of lessons from 100 to 76, and the degree of difficulty is lowered to enable it to be finished within one year. Outdate texts are deleted, and the contents are revised to make the book timely. The explanations of language points are also modified, and the order is rearranged to make it more convenient for teaching

Jump High - A Systematic Chinese Course: Selected Readings of Classical Chinese (II)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 08:22:44 +0800

Level: Intermediate

The Selected Readings of Classical Chinese in the series Jump High�A Systematic Chinese Course (II) includes 15 lessons, with a total of 17 texts, which are mainly fables taken from various classics from the Pre-Qin period in the Chinese history. The texts are of moderate difficulty and cover various subjects, such as military affairs, politics, debate and education in ancient times, which make the book both informative and interesting.

It is suggested that four class hours be devoted to the book each week so that it can be finished within one academic semester.

About the Author
Wang Jianxi is a teacher in the College of Chinese Language & Culture, Beijing Normal University, who has rich experience in teaching foreign students classical Chinese and other relevant courses.

Common Use Character Dictionary of Ancient Chinese (fourth edition)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 09:25:12 +0800

5th edition available

本书主要收古汉语常用字,兼收难字、双音词,共计近万条。释义权威,审音准确,例句精当,难懂例句附有注解和串讲。本书专设“注意”、“辨析”内容,对疑难字词加以提示和辨析。
本字典收古汉语常用字4200余个(不包括异体字)。古今意义相同而且现代汉语中也很常用的字,古书中很少出现的生僻字和意义,古白话和现代汉语中才出现的字和意义,以及诗词曲中特有的意义一般不收。并酌收少量的双音词,约2500多个。本字典附录有《难字表》、《中国历代纪元表》两种。其中《难字表》收2500余字,只有注音和释义,不举例,作为字典正文的补充。难字表中的字和正文的字统一列在检字表中。

本字典特色:
·由著名语言学家王力、岑麒祥、林焘、戴澧、唐作藩、蒋绍愚等十余位专家学者编写,是学习古汉语的必备工具书。
·在第3版的基础上增补修订。收古汉语常用字和复音词约一万条。
·释义权威,审音准确,例句精当,难懂例句附有注解和串讲。
·专设“注意”、“辨析”内容,对疑难字词加以提示和辨析。
·附录有《中国历代纪元表》、《古代汉语语法简介》、《怎样学习古代汉语》等,可供读者学习参考。

古汉语词典(缩印本)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 09:16:21 +0800

《古汉语词典(缩印本)》是一本为中学生量身打造的古代汉语词典，收字5000余个，收词近10000条，满足中学文言文学习需要，字词解释简明、实用，贴近中学语文教学需要，例句全部出自中学语文教材及名家名篇，可供预习和复习，设置提示，重点提示古汉语学习中遇到的难点和疑点，设置近义词辨析，详辨、详解150组容易混淆的字词用法，设置知识窗：介绍同古诗文学习相关的文化常识，选绘古代常用器物插图，帮助读者形象地理解释义，附录有《中学古诗文篇目》，囊括各家中学教材古诗文篇目。

Jump High - A Systematic Chinese Course: Ancient Chinese (volume 1)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 23:03:43 +0800

Level: Intermediate ,Advanced ; College ,Adults

This book is designed for foreigners to learn classical Chinese, suitable for students with intermediate or advanced Chinese proficiency. It is divided into two volumes. Each lesson is composed of several well-arranged parts, including texts, notes, new words, grammar notes, classical Chinese knowledge, exercises, and extracurricular reading. All the texts are extracts from famous classical writings, being short in length, informative and interesting; with the learners’ specific backgrounds and language proficiency taken into consideration, the grammar notes are written in explicit and concise language, supported by example sentences from the texts; apart from linguistic knowledge, the part of classical Chinese knowledge also introduces relevant information about traditional culture in ancient China, such as mountains, rivers, and calendar in ancient times, annotations of ancient books, names of ancient people, etc. This is volume 1 of the book, including altogether 15 lessons, each with 1-2 texts to be taught in 2-4 class hours. Having finished this volume, students will become more interested in classical Chinese and, more importantly, be able to understand classical Chinese and ancient Chinese culture from a deeper perspective.

About the Author
Professor Cui Libin is a doctoral supervisor in the College of Chinese Language & Culture of Beijing Normal University and the head of the Chinese Grammar Teaching and Research Office. Prof. Cui has published over 20 academic articles and several academic books and CFL textbooks.

Classical Chinese Textbook (Revised Edition) Grade 3 Vol 1

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 08:52:19 +0800

Usage Advice: Volume One is used in the first semester and Volume Two is used in the second semester of the Junior Year of college.

Level: Intermediate, Advanced, Chinese Teachers (TCSL)

Classical Chinese (Revised Edition) is fitted for international students in their third year of study at Chinese colleges.

Based on the stage of teaching and teaching hours, the first volume is cut down to 15 lessons and the second one to 10 lessons. To fit the main text(s), a text to improve students’ reading skills is designed in each lesson. For characteristics specific to foreigners studying Chinese, the lessons are arranged step by step. Each lesson lays its emphasis on the explanation of a common function word, a fixed pattern and a grammatical point in classical Chinese. Common knowledge about Chinese culture is introduced in each lesson in Volume Two. Ten famous essays are selected at the back of the book for teachers and students to choose from.

The vocabulary list, translation and keys to exercises are attached at its back for users’ reference.

About the Author
Both authors are teachers of Beijing Language and Culture University and have taught classical Chinese to foreign students for years.

Dictionary of Ancient Chinese (2nd Edition)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 22:12:34 +0800

《古代汉语词典》自1998年出版以来，深受读者欢迎。至今已经过去了15年，有必要进行一次系统的修订，把质量提高到一个新的水平。此次修订，在释义和书证以及书写体例等方面做了大量查漏补缺的工作，从实际需要为出发点，收集了古代正统书面语写作中的大量单字与词汇。第2版收录单字约14200个（包括繁体字和异体字），复音词约28000条。第1版收单字10000个，复音词24000条。其主要修订工作：1. 释义和书证是本次修订的重点，释义不妥或有硬伤的改正之，书证有误或年代较晚的更换之。更换书证，其时代按以下分期：先秦、汉代、魏晋南北朝、隋唐宋、元及以下。2. 增加了一些有文献用例的单字，相应删去一些仅见于字书而没有书证的生僻字。复音词也做了某些调整，有所增删。3. 通假音读本字的读音，不单立音项；凡通假字与本字读音不同者，在通某之后，用括号标出所读本字的读音，如锡，通“赐”（cì）。4. 异体字从严掌握，凡音义有别者，不做异体处理，如“修”“脩”，“雕”“琱”“彫”“鵰”等皆单立字头。5. 引书体例略作修改，如《楚辞•离骚》改为屈原《离骚》，不出《楚辞》；《文选•东京赋》改为张衡《东京赋》，不出《文选》。6. 根据《汉字部首表》和《GB13000.1字符集汉字部首归部规范》，重新编制了《部首检字表》。基本采纳《通用规范汉字表》，表外字不做类推简化。

Editor's Recommendation
释疑解惑融通古今
北京大学张双棣教授、中国人民大学殷国光教授主持修订
语文教师、中学生、文字工作者案头必备
品牌辞书，读者认同。荣获第三届国家辞书奖二等奖

Dictionary of Ancient Chinese (Revised Edition)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 10:05:25 +0800

Ancient Chinese

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 01:57:37 +0800

中国古代文体形态研究(第3版)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 01:57:37 +0800

《中国古代文体形态研究(第3版)》不是对于古代文体系统的概论，而是对于文体的个案研究。吴承学力图在学术界现有古代文体学研究的基础上，对于中国古代一些文体包括文学文体和实用性文体的文体体制、渊源、流变及各种文体之间相互影响等问题作历史的描述和思考。除了研究文体的语言文字形式之外，以历史的和逻辑的方法，全面研究古代文体的内部结构，文体的审美特征，以及文体之间的互相影响、互相融合，文体发展的规律，等等，并在此基础上研究文体所反映出来的人类的感受方式、审美心理以及文化心态。

About Author
吴承学，1956年生，广东潮州人。1977年考入中山大学，1982年获得学士学位，1984年获硕士学位。1987年在复旦大学攻读博士学位，1990年获博士学位，分配到中山大学中文系工作。1994年晋升教授，2006年人选教育部“长江学者”特聘教授，2010年被聘为中山大学“逸仙学者”讲座教授。学术兼职有《中山大学学报》主编、国家社会科学基金学科评审组专家、广东省学位委员会学科评议组成员、中国古代文学理论学会副会长、中国明代文学研究会副会长、广东省古代文学研究会会长等。出版过《中国古代文体形态研究》等专著数种，论文多篇，主持过国家哲学社会科学基金重大项目等。

Selected Ancient Chinese Readings (Grade 4 textbook)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 22:41:18 +0800

Usage Advice

Altogether 10 lessons for the fourth year in college

Description

Selected Ancient Chinese Readings is a course book for foreigners in their fourth year of college study in China, also suitable for foreigners who have former experiences of learning ancient Chinese.

There are a total of 10 lessons in the book, including famous works selected from classical books. The works selected are mainly prose narrating historical events, stories and figures. Each lesson teaches one common function word, one fixed expression and a piece of knowledge about ancient Chinese reading. Besides the main texts, there are another 10 materials for extensive reading. The words are explained in both Chinese and English, and all the selected readings are paraphrased in modern Chinese. Each lesson provides one exercise, whose answer can be found at the end of the book.

In the latter part of the book, 10 optional readings are provided for teachers and students to choose.

About the Author(s)

Xu Zongcai and Li Wen are both CFL teachers in Beijing Language and Culture University who have engaged in teaching undergraduate foreigners ancient Chinese for decades. Their works include Undergraduate Series of Chinese as a Foreign Language—Ancient Chinese (Revised Edition, Volumes 1 & 2) and Selected Ancient Chinese Readings.

古代汉语浅说

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 10:25:19 +0800

Classical Chinese Reader (2nd edition)

purple@purpleculture.net (Purple Culture) — Tue, 17 May 2011 04:26:08 +0800