The Robin Hood of Taiwan: Liao Tian-Ding – Chinese Graded Reader
書 Books › The Robin Hood of Taiwan: Liao Tian-Ding
Liao Tian-Ding 廖添丁
Level 2: 500 Unique Characters
A Taiwanese folktale based on a true story — Liao Tian-Ding 廖添丁
A legendary hero and the most wanted outlaw during Taiwan under Japanese rule, Liao Tian-Ding was known for employing his amazing Kung fu skills to steal from the rich and give to the poor.
Liao Tian-Ding: an epic tale of an outlawed hero fighting injustice. In this journey, we travel back in time to Taiwan under Japanese rule to discover kung fu, brotherhood, romance and intrigue all under the spectre of colonialism in early 20th century Taiwan.
Level 2 is designed for Chinese learners who have reached an intermediate level. This series contains about 500 unique characters. Check out the preview to see if it’s fine for your level.
Level 2 適合中級、中高級的學生。本書只使用約500個不同的中文字寫成。
How do I study with this book?要怎麼用這本書學習？
Read at your own pace. By reading this book, you’re already improving your recognition and comprehension skills. Here are some features of the book:
Glossary: Clicking key words will take you to the glossary, where each word’s definition and pronunciation are listed.
Questions and Discussion: This section is extra practice to test your comprehension and to express your opinions.
Grammar points: This section lists the most challenging grammar points used in the story. It’s a good chance for you to review the grammar you might have learnt before but are still not familiar with.
Audiobook: Listening along while you read allows you to pick up on tones and unfamiliar words. It also aids in understanding what natural Chinese would sound like in context.
This is a fantastic graded reader for any Mandarin learners that are becoming more confident reading but not quite ready for native level material. Abby does a great job using useful but not painfully advanced vocabulary and grammatical structures to tell the story of the Japanese Occupation Era Taiwanese hero Liao Tian Ding! The length and difficulty of the story are just right. 我很推薦這本書！
— Thomas, Mar 25, 2023
I love this story. I am the editor; I am biased. But I really like the stories Abby writes, and this is probably my favorite so far. My basic description of the book: “Taiwan in the early 20th century: under brutal Japanese rule, landlords strip their tenants bare, and the police only make things worse. Enter Liao Tian Ding, a young man who uses his kung fu skills to help those in need. But in the end, can he really protect the ones he loves? Based on a true story, Liao Tian Ding is about injustice, and setting things right.” As someone who often feels hopeless about the state of the world, this book gave me some kind of hope. There is always hope as long as we fight back, and no matter what, our spirit lives on. Also it’s a graded reader lol. It’s designed to be a pretty smooth reading experience, and will definitely help you improve your Mandarin. But yeah I like the story a lot >.<
Great little graded reader. A very compelling story for a graded reader and a great little bit of Taiwanese culture.
— Dan Rastelli, Jan 30, 2024
Fun read of a well known Taiwan story
I loved reading this ! It’s carefully crafted and I especially liked the perspective from the father and daughter. I’m sure many Taiwanese kids learn about this story in a similar way. I was not expecting that turn of events in the story! I wanted to keep reading more but unfortunately the story ends. If you already read one of Abby’s other graded readers then you’ll like this one too. Liao Tian Ding was and still is an inspiring figure in Taiwan. I can’t wait to read another story told by Abby!
Wonderful read for intermediate Chinese learners. Liao Tianding is a great story – recommend this story and the “Legend of Tianding” video game for anyone interested in this period of Taiwanese history!
Listening along while you read allows you to pick up on not only tones as well as unfamiliar words, it also aids in understanding what natural Chinese would sound like in this context.
台灣華語 分級讀物 -華語學習 中文分級讀物 – 正體中文 繁體中文 分級讀物 – Chinese books for intermediate learners – improve Chinese reading – Chinese graded reader from Taiwan – Traditional Chinese graded reader recommendation – Taiwanese Mandarin graded reader – best Chinese graded reader in traditional Chinese – easy to read chinese stories – TOCFL band B
