The classes overseas usually do not teach Classical Chinese. Even the requirements to pass HSK 1-6 also do not cover Classical Chinese. While every Chinese student in China studies Classical Chinese in every of the 12 grades from elementary school, middle school to high school. This is a non-negligible distinction between the Chinese students who learn Chinese inside China and the foreign students who learn Chinese outside China.

The relationship between Classical Chinese and Modern Chinese () is very similar to the relationship between Latin / Ancient Greek / Old English and Modern English.

In China, every student learns both Modern Chinese () and Classical Chinese in the same course in elementary school, middle school and high school, and also learns one foreign language, majorly English, since a high grade of elementary school and continuously learns foreign language till college.

In the United States of America and the United Kingdom, both Latin and Greek are taught as foreign languages in courses other than the English language art course or English literature course. And few students learn Old English even in high school.

In the United States of America and the United Kingdom, few students are required to read or recite any sentence in Beowulf or Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. While in China, all students are required to read, understand and recite hundreds of ancient poems and original articles that were written 1,000 years ago or even 2,500 years ago in Classical Chinese. Actually, just since the 1910's, Chinese official writing language was changed from Classical Chinese to . If does not learn Classical Chinese, people cannot read any Chinese official documents written before the 1910s.

The Old English is not a vivid part of Modern English, while the thousands of poems, idioms and history stories are inalienable parts of Modern Chinese. According to the syllabus of Chinese elementary school, most of the about 200 poems and articles in the 12 textbooks of the 6 grades are required to be recited. In middle school and high school, the proportion of Classical Chinese in the Chinese language course becomes even larger, so that Classical Chinese dominates the Chinese language course.

However, even the requirements to pass HSK 1-6 do not cover Classical Chinese. We can generally speak that the students who have passed HSK 6 actually learned a part of Chinese language, not the entire Chinese language.

This book is an entire anthology of all of the about 200 poems and articles in the 12 textbooks of Chinese elementary school. The 12 textbooks were compiled and approved by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China in 2018. They were published by People's Education Press.

Besides the original contents in the 12 textbooks, for every poem and article, this book provides both English translation and Modern Chinese translation. And also provides notes for key words, phrases and sentences in Chinese and English as well, which cover all the notes in the textbooks and are more than the notes in the textbooks.

It is high commended for the readers to recite most of the poems, idioms, sayings and original articles in this book, because most students of Chinese elementary school are required to do so.

This book is suitable for the people who have passed HSK 4, or have learned more than 1,000 Chinese characters.