The most interesting and challenging aspect of studying Chinese is writing Chinese characters. Unfortunately, the learning of Chinese characters receives only marginal attention in a typical classroom. Given that vocabularies in textbooks are based on spoken language rather than the principles of character formation, and also given the pressures of time to deal with spoken competencies, the teaching of Chinese characters is rarely presented in an orderly, intelligible way. Students are left making mistakes without ever really understanding why. This text is a self-paced tutorial designed to address common problems students face when learning Chinese orthography, or Hanzi. Students will learn the basic principles that govern Hanzi, basic strokes, the proper stroke order, and the most common radicals. The book is designed to be used with an accompanying videotape that is sold separately. It has 25 lessons, and by the end students will have learned 125 Hanzi characters and some of the common words and phrases in which they are used. (KFT)