It really makes us happy to hear from happy and satisfied readers how the Mandy and Pandy series has helped them learn Chinese and having fun at the same time. Here’s one of these reviews.

Ni hao! We would like to thank you for taking so much of your personal time to read from your wonderful book to our children at Kim’s Chinese Restaurant. Our daughter, Anna, enjoyed them very much and we often read from her book, “Mandy and Pandy Visit China“. We play the CD in the car while she follows along with the pictures. You can see from her smile in the photo how much she likes the book. She truly enjoys learning from your great stories and telling people about the new Chinesewords she has picked up. She can’t wait until we get the next book.

Please keep up the great work and we are looking forward to more in the series, and hope to see you again at Kim’s.

Warmest regards,

Mark, Kathy and Anna Bochenek

What Our Friends and Close Customers Say About the Mandy and Pandy Series…

We are truly having fun making a difference in the world through our Mandy and Pandy books. In fact, we are even encouraged to create and contribute more to the harmony of the distinct cultures of the east and the west when we hear parents and teachers alike raving about how the Mandy and Pandy series have helped their kids learn the Chinese language.

Today, we would like to highlight encouraging messages from two of our dear friends. So let’s hear it for the Mandy and Pandy book series!

The first one is from a Chinese Dance and Language Teacher from New York Chinese Cultural Center:

We were fortunate enough to have Chris Lin read to my School of the Arts language class at the New York Chinese Cultural Center. Although my students are immediate Chinese speakers from 13 to 15 years, they enjoyed Mr. Lin’s reading and learned fun and useful phases from the Mandy and Pandy books. I was delighted to hear Mr. Lin emphasize the importance of learning the Chinese language to lessen the cultural divide and build a bridge of peace and understanding.

Jie Yang
Chinese Dance and Language Teacher
School of the Arts
New York Chinese Cultural Center

The next one is from a mother of two cute little girls, Mia aged 3 1/2 and Liza who is 1 year old:

We are a Jewish, American/Canadian family living in NYC. We moved to Hong Kong right after our wedding and know the importance of having familiarity of the Chinese language and certainly with Chinese culture. We want our girls to have a foundation of Chinese in case they have an opportunity to live or work in Asia in the future!

We are always delighted to hear how the Mandy and Pandy series have touched the lives of countless individuals. We find ourselves blessed to have your kind support. Thank you and kudos!

Chris Lin has once again touched the lives of another group of children with his Mandy and Pandy series, this time, kids from the 4th largest city of China, Shen Yang. Shen Yang is an industrial city with more than 10,000,000 people and growing.

It is also home to a number of expatriate companies like Intel and Good Year. The kids of executives and officers from such companies attend the Dalian International School. There are 100 kids at this school and over 100 more schools scattered in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

It was in this school on a fateful Saturday night that Chris Lin met a number of kids who enthusiastically received Mandy and Pandy books. They were also joined by Pandy and together they explored the wonderful pages of Mandy and Pandy Visit the Zoo. Pre-school teacher Audrey’s son loved the book!

Chris Lin not only visited the school and met its CEO, Lisa Liang, but he also met up with a few other key people. One of these is Mr. Zhang who is the owner of a few nursery schools that has over 1200 kids. He also met with North Media, the largest private media company in China who are also investor in CCTV/Porchlight project Snap! Let’s Go!. Finally, he also had the pleasure of meeting with Rose Dai Li Mei, the Director of Shenyang Financial District and Trade and Development Zone.

All in all, his visit to China was one fruitful and exhilarating trip that he would surely remember. And so would the kids!

Mandy and Pandy would like to wish all the mothers around the world a Happy Mothers Day!

Chris Lin speaks of the importance of learning Chinese, not only for those with Chinese descent, but for anyone who wishes to make it in the modern world. It is a well known fact that China is fast becoming a superpower and it would be a definite advantage to learn their language and be conversant in it.

In truth, it would be easier to gain somebody’s trust if one can communicate using the other person’s language. Chris Lin put it this way, “The key to developing trust and building bridges is through communication, and the key to communicating effectively is to understand each other’s languages.”

More about this article: Why learn Chinese?

Midwest Book Review features the Mandy and Pandy series in their Children’s Book Watch for April 2010. Editor-in-Chief, James A. Cox, writes:

“Mandy and Pandy Visit the Zoo: man di he pan di can guan dong wu yuan” is a bilingual children’s book and CD that teaches Chinese. Thick cardboard pages with colorful illustrations show names of zoo animals and sentences in English and Chinese with phonetic pronunciations spelled in English underneath the Chinese characters. “Mandy and Pandy visit the Zoo” is the latest in a child’s series that teaches Chinese to English speaking children. The enclosed CD provides audio examples of Chinese pronunciation and articulation to make learning Chines even more fun. “Mandy and Pandy visit the Zoo” is a fun way to learn a new language and meet new friends. The Mandy and Pandy books are for all ages.

The sensation Mandy and Pandy series created has cascaded to national television. In the interview, Chris Lin shares his reason for starting the series. He wanted to preserve the heritage of his adopted Chinese daughter by teaching her Chinese but there were no books that catered to his and his daughter’s needs. This led him to create his own set of instructional materials, the Mandy and Pandy series.

You can watch the full video below: