Authentic Chinese is a comprehensive series of textbooks for teaching Chinese to high school students in grades 9-12 in North America (primarily in the United States), designed to develop students' comprehensive language skills in Chinese. There are four levels in the set, matching the four grade levels, and each level comes with the textbook, workbook, task workbook, and character book, as well as compiled and organized electronic versions of supplementary exercises and resources for free download. This is the first textbook in the set. The textbook adopts a task-based teaching method, with topics of interest to high school students and real-life corpus, starting from scratch and progressing step by step to improve students' overall language skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating. The ten lessons and topics are organized according to six general themes: contemporary life, family and community, personal and community identity, aesthetics and art, science and technology, and global challenges. The real China is presented through a rich variety of authentic materials and includes numerous photographs and images to help learners experience and imagine the new landscape of an evolving China. The text is followed by a reading ladder, Chinese morsels, Chinese character challenges, and a culture corner to develop students' literacy skills and enhance their understanding of Chinese characters and Chinese culture. The textbooks are designed to simulate and develop themes and activities that are relevant to real-life situations, interesting, and inspiring for learning to make learning process more engaging, communicative and, most importantly, authentic.