Volume 1 contains 40 selections from texts written between the fifth century B.C. and the first century A.D., during which the classical Chinese language was fully developed and standardized. Volume 2 contains a detailed glossary of unfamiliar terms and names found in Volume 1, and Volume 3 features detailed grammatical analyses.
This book lists 526 Chinese characters. Each character is accompanied by a short article and an illustration which vividly depicts the origin and evolution of the character.
