An entertaining journey to the heart of the Chinese language to deepen your understanding of China and its culture. A must-read for anyone who wants to improve their Mandarin or cultivate better relationships with Chinese worldwide. "I wish a book like this existed when I moved to China." — Dan Washburn, Chief Content Officer, Asia Society "Ridiculously funny, uncomfortably accurate and totally memorable!" — Grant Horsfield, Founder, naked Group "I suddenly feel as if the scales have been lifted from my eyes." — Carol Potter, Executive Vice Chairman at Edelman "It’s not a textbook; it’s just stuff you should know." — John Pasden, Founder and CEO, AllSet Learning "Totally authentic." — Christine Ng, CEO, BBH China "A lively and original approach to navigating the bottomless mysteries of Chinese language and culture." — David Brooks, Chairman, Coca-Cola Greater China & Korea "Reveals insights that many teachers and textbooks overlook." — Olle Linge, Mandarin Language Educator, Founder Hacking Chinese "They’ve cracked the code: China Simplified demystified Mandarin for me, and now many of my clients." — Mary Rezek, Founder & Principal Consultant, Saatori Ltd. "Weaves together rich cultural and linguistic background information of the Chinese language with practical implications for daily communication." — Michael Volz, Chinese Program Coordinator, University of Missouri "This book should be required reading for every foreigner before getting on the plane to China." — Miao Jun, former HR Director, Asia-Pacific, Milliken Inc. The authors encourage you to discover the writers whose works influenced Language Empowerment: The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson Language Evolution by Morten Christiansen and Simon Kirby The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language by David Crystal Sinosplice blog by John Pasden Hacking Chinese blog by Olle Linge Language Log blog by Victor Mair China in Ten Words by Yu Hua My Life Story by Zhou Youguang The Languages of China by S. Robert Ramsey A Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language by David Moser Chinese History: A New Manual by Endymion Wilkinson The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently and Why by Richard Nisbett The Architecture of the Language Faculty by Ray Jackendoff Postcards From Tomorrow Square by James Fallows The Third Ear by Chris Lonsdale Speak Like A Native: Professional Secrets for Mastering Foreign Languages by Michael Janich Origins of Chinese Names by SK Lim and Chunjiang Fu Popular Chinese Idioms by Jeffrey Seow and Yang Liping A Chinese-English Dictionary of Chinese Idioms by Pan Weigui The Pocket Linguist: A Practical Guide to Learning any Language by Gregg Miller This book is intended to benefit readers who want to...

• better appreciate the origins of Chinese culture
• gain confidence and more fully enjoy China travel
• decide whether to study Mandarin part-time or full-time
• pick up an improved understanding of Chinese grammar
• discover a fun substitute to boring Chinese phrasebooks
• get the basic differences between simplified characters and traditional characters
• become familiar with Chinese dialects such as Cantonese, Shanghainese and Hokkien
• explore the future of language and the looming battle between English and Mandarin China Simplified hopes you enjoy Language Empowerment!