Chinese character writing for dummies

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
	About This Book
	Foolish Assumptions
	Icons Used in This Book
	Where to Go from Here
Chapter 1 Wrapping Your Mind around the Chinese Writing System
	Appreciating the Complexities of Written Chinese
	How the Written Word Unifies China
	What? No Alphabet?
	Which Way Did They Go? The Direction of Characters
	Chinese Language Reform
	Traditional versus Simplified Characters
	Why Learn to Write Chinese?
	Strategies for Learning to Write Chinese Characters
		Set goals
		Write, review, rinse, repeat
		Cultivate your inner character whisperer
		Practice creative visualization
Chapter 2 Understanding the Structure of Chinese Characters
	Simple versus Composite Characters
	The Six Scripts
		Pictographs
		Simple ideographs
		Compound ideographs
		Phonetic compounds
		Reciprocal characters
		Phonetic loan characters
	What a Radical Idea! The Incredible Radical
		Why all the fuss about radicals?
		How to use a Chinese dictionary . . . without an alphabet
	Deciphering Strokes
		Types of strokes
		Stroke order
Chapter 3 Preparing to Write Beautifully
	From Then to Now: A Brief History of Chinese Writing
		Carving on bone
		From etchings to brush and ink
		Adding bronze carvings to the mix
		Widespread use of brush and ink
		Moveable type and word processing
	The Evolution of Chinese Script
		Oracle bone script
		Bronze inscriptions
		Seal script
		Clerical script
		Running script
		Grass script
		Regular script
	The Four Treasures of Chinese Calligraphy
		Writing brush
		Ink
		Rice paper
		Ink stone
	Tools and Techniques for the Modern-Day Calligrapher (or Writer)
Chapter 4 100 Chinese Characters
Appendix A The 214 Chinese Radicals
Appendix B Compound Words to Practice
Appendix C Sentences to Practice
Appendix D Blank Grids for Extra Practice
EULA