What are the linguistic constituents and structural components of Chinese characters and words? Does the spoken language provide a basis for reading different writing systems, including Chinese? How do the results of current neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies of processing Chinese converge with cognitive behavioural data? Are similar neurocognitive networks involved in reading alphabetic English and morphosyllabic Chinese? This volume brings together the related disciplines of neuroscience, cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics to explain some of the complex issues in understanding the processing of the Chinese language. Using current research findings and theories, chapters by leading researchers explore topics such as learning to read Chinese, word identification by readers of different skill and the development of Chinese vocabulary.