The book was first published in 1960 by Fred Wang when the US Govt funded his work at Yale. Latest editor is Vivian Ling.
The other book I’m looking for is IUP basic vocabulary. These two books are the starting books for the ICLP/IUP program which is supposed to be the best Mandarin language program in TW. Does anyone have this book which they can lend me briefly or tell me where to buy same? If I could get the tapes that would be great too.
Well, one good place to look for an IUP book might be . . . IUP 
There is a version of that book that doesn’t list the author (so it may be ShiDa rather than Ling, but it is based on Fred Wang’s) available at the MTC’s bookstore. May also be available at Lucky Bookstore. I have it and thought it an excellent high-intermediate textbook. LOTS of pattern practice with example sentences, which I think it a great way to passively learn structure at a level when one can’t yet read authentic Chinese.
I did that before before posting.
Result:
The director of ICLP/IUP has been around Chinese language instruction for decades.
When I went to see her, she lied to me and said the book was their property and written by them and ICLP/IUP would not sell it to me until I became a student.
I then found that the book had been written nearly 50 years ago in the US and was funded by the US military in 1960 under the auspices of Yale summer courses. The book has been through at least 4 printings.
The other book asked about was the IUP vocab book.
True to Chinese tradition, the director lied again.
This book found was published in US also at Yale(not NTU ICLP), first in 1971.
“Talks on Chinese Culture” I ordered from Yale and am waiting for it. After hunting and comparing, the IUP Basic Vocabulary appears to be similar enough to the recent E-C Pinyin book just put out by Far East on Chunking South Rd in Taipei, a book I already have.
Thanks for the tip about MTC; I’ll check out what they have
Isn’t this “20 Lectures on Chinese Culture” published by Yale? You know, the book from which I learned the Chinese word for “paleolithic age” 20 years back and never got to use it until last year? 
[b]:help: HELP :help:
What’s going on?
The quote below was (part of) my post. What is posing as my post is NOT my words at all. The system has goofed or I/the system have been hacked. Also, I know my quote was ok a few days after I wrote it. Now it’s April 17th.[/b]
Nope, the Yale book was definitely in characters. We were absolutely cowed in class, counting ahead to figure out which sentence we’d have to read out loud and making sure we knew how to pronounce all the characters. There might be a Romanized parallel version though. The Romanization for the vocab was in Yale system, which was weird – I remember that.
They still use TOCC at IUP on the campus of qingda in beijing. I think when IUP left, they took most of their books with them.
I’d tried to buy this book from ICLP at Taida but they did the typical Chinese thing - lied straight to my face while smiling - and said it was their book and they would not sell it to someone not taking classes there.
I smiled back and left. Result? I bought it online from Yale Press.
A better book from Yale might be Mickel’s dictionary for prose readers.
How would this go over…
I think you need to think about why you are studying Chinese in the first place.
Not the book your discussing, but never the less I thought was a good read and practical:
The book is called “Chinese Negotiating Style”, written by Tony Fang, born in China (I think) and brought up in America. good insight into both cultures.
ISBN 0-7619-1575-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-7619-1576-1 (softcover)
How would this go over…
I think you need to think about why you are studying Chinese in the first place.[/quote]
I agree!
Curious: What exactly is “the typical Chinese thing”? “- lie straight to my face while smiling-”
I recall having experienced this with my previous apartment manager, car insurance agent, dental insurance carrier, school district bureaucrats…I didn’t know they did “the typical Chinese thing” although none of them looked like Chinese.
I know you were frustrated but JERKS come in all shapes and colors, and places.
I know we all like to be politically correct these days.
I know there are some admirable intentions for this.
I know that the large unspoken issue is that people have difficulty distinguishing between generalizing about general populations and generalizing about individuals. The former is ok with me, the latter is not.
I’ve lived in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and now China. Chinese lie like no one else. The frequency and boldness of Chinese lying is justly legendary.
Do my Chinese friends lie to me? No. Otherwise they wouldn’t be my friends.
I will restate the above differently as I know some might react emotionally rather than rationally.
I am not saying any stereotype is correct. Quite to the contrary, I am reporting to you my personal experience and backing it up with comparisons. If you can honestly say that in your experience in Taiwan or China that you found people lied to you no more than in another foreign country (or possibly your native land, but see my qualifying comment for that below), fine. I like Mango juice (no sugar added, please), you may not.
Again, generalizing about general populations is ok so long as you have data (eg living in the country, not meeting three people living in your country); generalizing about individuals is wrong. It is wrong not because it’s politcally incorrect or because you may dislike me, but because it is illogical. Again, in my experience Taiwanese and especially Chinese lie a lot more than Koreans, Japanese, or Americans (though being I am from the latter country it might well disqualify me from including it; also I have refrained from making comparisons to persons from dozens of other countries I have known because I have not lived there and encoutnered large numbers of average people, since people who leave their country to live for a while or forever in another country are not average), but when I meet a Chinese person I don’t think, “Must be a liar.” because I have known honest Chinese.
The difference is between talking in general about groups as opposed to assuming an individual necessarily will have all or certain characteristics of the group to which s/he belongs. For example, if one wants to say that in his/her experience few Westerners bother to learn Chinese, fine. But if one then assumes that Mr. Xyz (a Westerner) doesn’t speak Chinese based solely on his being a Westerner, that’s a different story.
To address Feiren’s intentionally hot button comment. I have not found any of the stereotypes about Jews to be true. Except that there does generally seem to be a higher value put on education and hard work. As for stereotypes about the Jews, that has a history that predates Christ, though stepped up post-Christ, so we can’t just talk from the Nazi era or the 19th century. Jews were disliked for being different and refusing to compromise/assimilate. So, bogus stereotypes were invented. For example, “Jews love money” came about because for many centuries the only thing they were allowed to do in Christian Europe was handle money. Long story.
Do you want me to say that Chinese or Taiwanese are as interested in household cleanliness and public sanitation as Japanese or Americans? Give me a break. The cleanest restaurant in all of China serves a Big Mac.
Here’s a generalization I will apply to any individual: s/he’s Japanese, therefore s/he won’t like root beer 
PS I study Chinese because I am interested in Chinese culture. That does not mean that I love everything Chinese or that I wish I could be culturally Chinese or that I will turn a blind eye to deficiencies in Chinese culture. I don’t love everything about my own culture, but I certainly won’t turn a blind eye to its deficiencies.