The Chinese writing system forms the sharpest contrast with the English writing system in terms of its grapheme-phoneme mapping principle. This review paper begins with a description of the characteristics of the Chinese writing and spoken systems, which is followed by the discussion of phonological, morphological, and orthographic processing involved in reading Chinese. We then review the literature central to the question as to how cross-language and cross-script differences and similarities in terms of the three basic processes impact reading English as a second language (L2) by native Chinese readers. We address the question from developmental perspectives targeting both children who are learning to read Chinese and English simultaneously and adult sequential learners of English. The chapter concludes with a discussion of limitations in previous research and future directions.
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