Haiyan Fan

In The Beginning Haiyan Fan

In this beautiful picture book, every single Chinese character is artfully illustrated, restoring the abstract pictograph symbols to the corresponding real life objects for everyone in the world to enjoy and to savor. Through the engaging adventure story, readers will unknowingly pick up the meaning and the origin of the first twenty Chinese characters, and have fun writing them.

A multi-modal learning book, inspired by Kungfu, Chinese martial arts, this easy-to-read storybook has embedded visual arts, poetry, calligraphy and critical thinking in one, keeping the learners eyes, hands, mind engaged and stimulated.



The best way to fully appreciate and utilize this book and thus enhance your learning is to read through the story first like you read a novel, without stopping too often for the new character explanations. You will be immersed in the feelings, thoughts, and emotions of the main characters. This is also the best time for your brain to pick up the use of words and language nuances from the context. Then, revisit the new character explanations several times afterwards by visualizing the illustrations in your mind, decoding the visual cues hidden in the characters, peeling back the semantic layers of a character or a phrase, and following the gamification icons to engage in the various games designed to help you interact with the characters you have just learned. The accompanying three mini-lessons and calligraphy sheet will again reinforce the new concept you have just learned in a totally novice-friendly manner.