Friends

Name: Friends
ISBN: 9787301226384

刘月华 / 储诚志Aug 2025

3.8

Word count: 25K words
Chapters: 14
ISBN: 9787301226384

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Summary

This book is Level 3 of the Chinese Breeze graded Chinese reader series. My dad is very rich, but he has fallen seriously ill. I don't like studying; I just like drinking, eating, and hanging out with friends. Of course, I also want to do something big—take over my dad's biggest company. But Dad insists that I first go to Beijing alone and make friends with Zhang Li, a university student whose family is even richer, and become a person like Zhang Li. In Beijing, I never find Zhang Li, and later I almost forget about looking for him… Yet in the end, Dad happily gives me his big company. Do you know what happened to me in Beijing, and who I made friends with?

Editor's review

As a Level 3 volume in the *Chinese Breeze* graded Chinese reader series, this book combines an engaging coming-of-age story with controlled language difficulty quite naturally. The story follows the narrator's search in Beijing for Zhang Li, a wealthy college student; on the surface it is about making friends, but in fact it is about a young person gradually coming to understand responsibility, friendship, and self-worth after leaving his father's protection. The narrative carries suspense, and the ending—in which the father hands the company over to the narrator—invites readers to look back and reinterpret details planted earlier, making it suitable for classroom discussion and book-club extension. The language is kept at Level 3 difficulty, with uncomplicated sentence patterns and good repetition of new words, so readers will not have their reading rhythm interrupted by excessive annotations. It is suitable both as extensive reading material for Chinese learners and as a supplementary reader for teachers to use for intensive reading and topic discussion. When reading, pay attention to changes in the narrator's attitude toward his friend and to why the father set up this arrangement—these are the most interesting parts of the story.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate learners with basic Chinese reading ability who wish to transition from short passages to whole books
Chinese language classroom students who need graded readers to supplement extensive reading
Chinese readers interested in contemporary Chinese youth growth and family relationships
Chinese language teachers who want to organize topic discussions around a complete story

Not a good fit for

Absolute beginners who have not yet mastered basic sentence patterns and common vocabulary
Learners expecting a pure language reference book or grammar explanation reader
Mature novel readers who prefer complex literary structures and in-depth psychological description

Reading tips

First read through without looking up new words, grasping the main thread of the narrator going to Beijing to find Zhang Li, then go back to deal with words and sentences that affect understanding.
After reading the ending, flip back to the first half and pay attention to the wording of the father's request and details of changes in the narrator's mindset.
List several scenes of the narrator's interactions with his friend in a small table and compare the changes before and after; this can serve as material for oral retelling or writing.
For classroom use, set questions chapter by chapter: why the father made this arrangement, why Zhang Li was hard to find, guiding students to express judgments in Chinese.

版权信息
前言
Foreword
1.我有大麻烦了
2.去北京找张立
3.红树林酒吧的小张力
4.头上被打出一个包36
5.“人”字是什么意思
6.小张力和爷爷的故事
7.我成了酒吧服务员
8.朋友在这里
生词表
练习
练习答案

FAQ

What Chinese proficiency level is this book suitable for?

It is a Level 3 volume in the *Chinese Breeze* series, aimed at intermediate learners who already have basic reading ability and can read longer short passages. Readers need to master basic sentence patterns and common vocabulary but do not need to be proficient in complex grammar. If you have just finished an elementary course, it is advisable to try reading one chapter first to confirm that the density of new words is acceptable before continuing.

What is the main suspense in the story?

The suspense centers on two points: whether the narrator can find Zhang Li, the friend designated by his father, after arriving in Beijing, and why the father required the narrator to first become someone like Zhang Li. As the narrator gradually forgets about finding Zhang Li, the ending has the father hand the company over to the narrator, which naturally makes readers look back and ask what exactly happened during the time in Beijing.

Can this book be used for classroom teaching?

Yes. The story line is clear and the chapters are moderate in length, suitable for extensive reading tasks and also for retelling, character analysis, and topic discussion. Teachers can design questions around "friends," "responsibility," and "family expectations," allowing students to express their views in their own words after reading, balancing comprehension and output practice.

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About the author

刘月华 Author

Liu Yuehua is an author with limited publicly available information. The library currently holds 18 of her works, spanning categories such as motivational growth and examinations. Judging from her representative titles, she has contributed to a variety of reading materials and exercise books for Chinese language learners, including Qingfeng (Second Edition), If You Were Not Here, Two Children Who Want to Fly to the Sky (Second Edition), Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! (Second Edition), Who Do You Like Best? (Second Edition), The Computer Company's Secret (Second Edition), and Mother and Son (Second Edition). Many of these titles use short questions or suspenseful phrasing, suggesting graded reading and language practice materials; several are marked "Second Edition," indicating that the readers have been revised and remain in use. Because her dates of birth and death, nationality, and detailed biography cannot be confirmed, this introduction does not address her personal life and instead summarizes her writing focus based on the library's holdings: short stories and everyday situations used for language learning and reading practice.

储诚志 Author

Chu Chengzhi is a Chinese-language author with a substantial body of work, though public information about him is limited: his nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name are not clearly documented, and nineteen of his titles are held in the collection. Judging from the representative works listed, he writes mainly for young readers and language learners, with titles often falling under inspirational growth and exam-preparation categories. Books such as If You Were Not Here, Who Do You Like Best?, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!, Left and Right, and Mother and Son draw on everyday choices, emotions, and relationships, in plain language and with plots close to readers' own experience; Qingfeng (Second Edition), The Computer Company's Secret (Second Edition), and Two Children Who Wanted to Fly (Second Edition) circulate in revised editions, suggesting sustained reading demand. Overall, his works emphasize readability and growth themes and suit beginning readers and classroom support.