Urban Chinese:Mandarin in 21st Century China

　　 　　urban chinese is broken down into five sections. the first section, pinyin and tones, provides the reader training wheels for learning chinese. based upon standard american english, the pinyin component will present similarities to which speakers of english can relate. the tones section will outline and explain the tones of chinese, providing tips and practice exercises. 　　section two, radicals, reveals the logic and meanings of the most commonly used radicals, the components that are mixed and matched like puzzle pieces to form chinese characters. 　　the third section, category usage dictiomory, provides the most frequently used words on topics such as the body, business, cabs and directions, colors, countries and country leaders, education, electronics, emotions and feelings, foods and restaurants, hobbies, holidays, language study, telling time, vehicles, weather and chinese zodiac signs. 　　learning the stories behind chinese idioms is a great way of deepening your understanding of the chinese culture while also expanding your vocabulary. in section four, idioms, the background stories of 25 idioms are told along with an example sentence that will enable the student to use the idiom in public discourse. 　　section five, slang, will provide the student with the."real" language that is not printed in textbooks, but is said as much as, if not more than, the material that is.each entry has undergone a usage test. only if a majority of the people questioned use the word, was it selected. examples with the“chinglish”formula are used to guarantee the student complete understanding and usage. 　　lastly, throughout the book, there are backgrounds and words of some of china's most commonly referenced personages including lei feng, da shan, norman bethune, etc.,which will give the reader a basic understanding of why these persons are brought up today.