Learning the fundamental hanzi characters used to write Chinese can be challenging, but this book is designed to speed up learning by presenting the 1,000 most common characters using a mnemonic approach. In a fun and accessible way to learn Chinese, each character is associated with memorable visual and verbal clues. For example, the Chinese character for person is superimposed over a sketch of a smiling man. The visual clue is "a person standing on two legs." By seeing the distinctive shape of the hanzi, learners create a mental image of its meaning. Each character is presented as part of a group of characters which share similar traits. These groups use common root symbols known as radicals; they are also categorized by themes such as colors, numbers, animals, or body parts. Pronunciations, meanings and common vocabulary compounds are provided for each character in the group. The free audio download available online helps you learn pronunciation for all of the characters and vocabulary in this book. The introduction explains the basic history and structure of Hanzi.