The "Kuoyü Primer" is not one of those dry text-books that weary the student as well as the teacher. Mr.
Matthews appears to have endeavoured to get away from this by keeping the student interested and at the same time giving essential information in a thorough but interesting manner. Many of the footnotes not only tend to give clearer information on various subjects but at the same time do so in such a manner as to have it stick to the student's memory, I cannot help, but quote one of these footnotes:
Note that @ tan is only used for eggs of birds, the word for eggs of insects being F. A servant was admonished for not scalding flies that he had swatted, because they had SENEXQRChi-tan tsai li-tou, hen's eggs inside them.
The "Kuoyü Primer" is a very thorough English and Chinese textbook and of extreme value to the serious student, either a beginner or advanced, who has in mind the mastering of ihe Chinese spoken language and speaking it correctly. The book with its 790 pages appears somewhat voluminous to the casual observer but the Chinese spoken language cannot be mastered in a few weeks and without hard work. The rapidity with which a student may master the language naturally depends greatly upon his own ability. However, the selection of his textbook and his teacher are of vital importance. In the former instance we can thoroughly recommend the "Kuoyü Primer" and Mr. R. H. Matthews is to be congratulated on
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.