Best book series for studying Classical Chinese

[marcopolo79]

If anyone is looking for a fun and effective way to improve their Classical Chinese reading ability, I highly recommend getting a hold of some of the works of 蔡志忠, an author who uses comics to illustrate and explain some of the great works of Chinese civilzation.

The comics usually contain one panel in which the original passage in Classical Chinese is written, followed by additional panels illustrating the meaning using colloquial Chinese, additional reference information and commentary is printed on the margins. As his books claim on the cover, they truly are 幽默輕鬆,易懂易解, which is something I rarely associate with the study of Classical Chinese.

He is very well known and his works are available throughout Asia (and probably in specialty bookshops in the West as well), you can find out more information here: http://www.readingtimes.com.tw/sight/tsai/

I realize I'm starting to sound like LeVar Burton, but sometimes I really dread looking at 10,000+ characters of nothing but Chinese text, I'm sure others feel the same way. These books offer a break from the cut and dry method of studying Classical Chinese that is both enjoyable, and, in my personal opinion, more effective for retaining the content of the stories as well as becoming better acquainted with the use of Classical Chinese as a literary medium.