Chengyu: 100 Common Chinese Idioms: Illustrated with Pinyin and Stories!

Good: the book uses simplified characters, and has pinyin, as well as a short storyBad: the stories are too simplified, and the text is lacking examples of real life usage of the 成语

The book is useful as a compilation of common Chinese idioms with English explanations. But the title of the book and the cover suggest that some of the content is in Chinese and pinyin. Instead, all you get in Chinese/pinyin are the four-character idioms. Everything else is English only. To be a useful learning tool, the stories/explanations should also be given in both languages. As it is, it's just a list of common idioms which you could easily access anywhere on the internet.

This is a quite-well-done book! My wife, from China, agrees that most of the 成语 cited are good choices. I like that it has 汉子, Pinyin, as well as an English ... well, "explanation" I'll say (i.e., not as much a translation as such) of the saying. I also like that it's in Simplified, although others might disagree with that sentiment.In short, I'd say this is a small, but well-positioned, window into Chinese culture.

Interesting, but it is lacking examples on how these idioms are used in everyday modern speech. So if you want to increase your ability to recognize chengyu in written Chinese this book is probably useful, but it will be impossible to learn to use them in sentences yourself with this book only.

The Idiom stories are a bit short, so your understanding is also abbreviated.

very good

enjoyed it

Well explaining and fast reading. A good short book for leisure time if someone wants to study chinese even on free time.

Tudo ótimo!

Muitíssimo interessante! Excelente para quem estuda mandarim ou tem interesse na cultura chinesa. É curioso como certos ditados populares são parecidos com os nossos, e outros são completamente diferentes...