The Painted Skin - Chinese Breeze Graded Reader Level 3: 750 Words Paperback – 1 Jan. 2013

For people who want to read fluently at a good level with minimal need to refer to a dictionary, this series is brilliant. The stories are very Chinese, some are quite gripping if perhaps rather naive, and always with a strong moral element undoubtedly aimed at the "improvement" of the reader!I really look forward to the publication of the more advanced volumes in the series.

I find the level 3 readers quite easy to read but still instructive for intermediate level Mandarin studies. This is a traditional kind of story, with an evil ghost battling a shaman-like Taoist monk and a besotted, naive intellectual torn between the two - love, death, fear, self-sacrifice and evil all in one little study book: not bad!

I bought this book for light reading purposes as it is beneath my current level; the story is easy enough to follow and enjoy; I would buy the other books in this series (if they get around to publishing the higher levels)

This was without a doubt my favourite Chinese breeze so far. Though it was level 3 I found it much easier to read than the third eye. I think this is because I just have much more vocabulary words for traditional stories than I do modern ones.Hua pi is a bit of an odd story in that the monster/demon isn't actually good. This version is a little like white snake if the Buddhist monk had been right about her having bad intentions. Of course the husband wasn't as nice either. The story really is about being a loyal wife, the woman loves her husband so much she accepts beatings and offers her life in exchange for his. I did find it a bit difficult that the winner of the story was the woman who could be beaten the most without crying out. But at least once her husband realised how much he owed her he treated her better, helped her with the housework and taught her how to read and write.I really hope Chinese breeze does more traditional stories. I am looking forward to getting their next volume, even if it is a contemporary story.

Book has arrived in excellent condition - thank you