A handsome folk artist, a passionate photographer, an outgoing English teacher, and an ambitious architect - these young people from different backgrounds and different countries encountered each other in China, exploring their self-worth and the meaning of life. Their lives intersect in an unexpected way with inspiration being sparked. Through their stories, readers will not only learn about the changes in the Chinese society, the integration of the global village, but also the unique charm of Chinese language and culture. This is Encounter, a fully integrated suite of Chinese language learning material, telling a beautiful story of encountering with Chinese.

Jointly published by China International Publishing Group and Yale University Press, Encounter includes a 20-episode video series as its central material, a set of textbooks (teacher's books, students' books, exercise books for Chinese characters and screenplays), more than 200-minute long audio material and an interactive learning website. Shot on location in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an of Shaanxi Province and Yangshuo of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the video series of Encounter presents realistic scenes of contemporary life in China, the thoughts of Chinese youth on life, love and the society, the collision and exchanges of minds, and ideas by those young people from home and abroad.

The series presents audiences with the freshest and most authentic language used in real-life situations by means of environment, distinctive characters and an effective story line. While watching a video series, students enjoy the pleasure of learning Chinese in a relaxed atmosphere, which is the highlight of the book. It changed previous boring classroom teaching into a relaxed way of learning – it's like watching a blockbuster movie. No matter whether you're a teacher or student, you will be immersed into the intricacies of Chinese culture and language right from the start.

The textbooks are also equally interesting. Principal authors of the book, Professor Cynthia Y. Ning from University of Hawaii and Professor John S. Montanaro from Yale University, both have rich experience in Chinese teaching. They are well aware of the learning psychology of students with English as the mother tongue and thus manage to stimulate students' initiative when compiling the textbook so that students will be subtly guided to explore self-learning ability.   

The students' book is comprised of 11 units with many colorful classroom activities based on the video series in each unit. Participating in activities either with one person, two or with a group of students, students will improve their oral speaking in an imperceptible way.

The teacher's book provides rich and practical suggestions and tips on teaching. With it, the teachers will be freed from weighty preparations for lessons.

Recognizing and writing Chinese characters have been the focus and difficult part of teaching Chinese. Those painting-like characters are headaches for many students. The exercise book for Chinese characters of Encounter subtly explained the relevant knowledge on the character with plain English instruction so that students could easily master the new characters in the textbook.

Nowadays, networking makes the world smaller. However, the establishment of www.EncountersChinese.com.cn expands the world of learning Chinese. The rich audio and video learning materials and smooth interaction platform can explore the language learning potential to the greatest extent possible, and enhance students learning efficiency and enthusiasm.

Language learning is a bridge of communication between peoples and nations. Encounter provides a powerful support for the establishment of this bridge. China International Publishing Group will soon release the original textbook in Asia, Africa and South America.