Rating: 
Summary: Get it eventually
Review: The old stand by. Getting older and standing by. It's strengths are single character definitions and entries relating to Chinese culture and history. Far East publishes six (6) different sizes of this dictionary, the larger two sizes having 120,000 entries, with the smaller four having an undisclosed number fewer. The smallest is no bigger (physically) than their Pinyin dictionary. The four smaller sizes have VERY small print. NB Amazon has the larger size listed separately (ISBN: 9576122279). Yes, some editions have a pink-red highlight for a small percentage of entries. Why, I'll never know (even though they say why). All six have their trademark 7,331 characters. The larger two are worth the extra money for the size of the print if not the additional entries and the couple of additional appendices. But Far East uses more ISBNs than you can shake a stick at, so I don't know which is which without seeing the dimensions. The smaller ones are around 3" x 5" to 4.5" x 7"; the larger two are about 8.5" x 11". Five of the six have the same paper (white), and one of the larger two has a paper that they claim will weather Taiwan's humid climate better (it looks like old, yellowed paper and is very thin). They called it "bible paper" when I talked with them. I wish they'd add to it and polish some of the definitions' Singlish and make a pinyin (look-up) version. If I don't sound hugely enthusiastic, that's because I'm not. But if you're a serious student of the language, I would get this at some point. It's very good, but now there are a number of competitors that equal or best it.
Rating: 
Summary: I love this Dictionary!
Review: This dictionary is *the* most complete, useful and fascinating available! It has numerous compounds, as well as marking what characters are used for Chinese names, some famous people with those names, idioms and more! With just a miniscle amount practice this book is very easy to use and worth the price. You might want to get the medium sized version. It's easy to read and not cumbersome at all. If you are a student of Chinese BUY THIS DICTIONARY! You'll end up learning a lot more from it than just the word you were trying to look up.
Rating:
Summary: Unsurpassed Chinese-English Dictionary
Review: This dictionary is the best Chinese-English dictionary I have come across. I've yet to see anything that even comes close to the level of excellence that it attains. This dictionary is essential for any intermediate and advanced student of Chinese. In it are contained some 120,000 entries arranged under some 7330 characters, selected from vast wealth of sources ranging from Chinese classics to newspapers and colloquial language, emphasising wide application and current usage. Whilst not an encyclopaedic dictionary, the entries often contain cultural information. Many proper nouns are included, e.g., names of famous people, famous events, geographical names, etc. The characters in the dictionary are arranged according to the classical Kangxi radical method, and the common vulgar and corrupt forms of the characters are listed in addition to their standard form. A table of characters whose radical is difficult to identify is provided to aid users. Indices with the characters arranged according to their pronunciation are also very helpful for finding characters whose pronunciation one knows, but whose exact form one cannot remember. The definitions of the characters and phrases are clear and concise, often containing encyclopaedic information, particularly those words pertaining to classical Chinese culture. Pronunciation for the individual characters is given in Pinyin, Zhuyin and Gwoyeu Romatzyh, whilst the pronunciation of the phrases are given only in Zhuyin. Physically, the dictionary is of a very manageable size, containing some 2000 very thin pages, which are of quality paper. The print, whilst not large, is clean and clearly legible. All in all, then, the Far East Chinese-English Dictionary is a great asset on any Chinese learner's bookshelf. It has everything in its favour: its price, its size, its quality and its content. I simply cannot go past this dictionary, being both comprehensive and concise.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Chinese-English dictionaries around.
Review: This is an excellent Chinese to English dictionaries containing over 7300 characters and 120,000 entries thereunder. The definitions are clear, concise and accurate; the print is sufficiently large, and, more importantly, clearly printed. The dictionary itself is not inordinately large, so as to be inconvenient to carry around. It is well bound, and the paper is of high quality; the book is surprisingly thin for one of some 2000 pages. The arrangement of the characters is by the traditional Kangxi radicals, by far the best method of arranging a dictionary; included is a table of characters whose radicals are difficult to identify, thereby making it easier to find these characters. In short, this is by far the best medium-sized Chinese-English dictionary available that I've seen.
Rating:
Summary: A great dictionary
Review: This is the Chinese to English dictionary I have seen the most frequently used by ROC immigrants. Written in Traditional Chinese and primarily using Zhu4 Yin1 Fu3 Hao4 (bo po mo fo) (but having a GR romanization and hanyu pinyin index,) this dictionary is great for the user who wants to have a good reference. Has a total stroke count and radical index as well, creating 5 total indexes. Very comprehensive, including many literary phrases out of modern use. Far East book company also publishes an English-Chinese edition.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a pinyin dictionary. Need I say more?
Review: This may be of use to Chinese speakers from Taiwan who are translating into English. However, for native speakers of English who translate Chinese into English, or for students who need to look-up using pinyin, this dictionary will be of limited value. There is a pinyin index but it is not as convenient as a fully pinyin dictionary. Furthermore, although head character entries have pinyin readings, character compounds listed as sub-entries under each head character lack pinyin readings. It is more comprehensive than Oxford's Chinese-English English-Chinese (ISBN 0195911512) but I only use it rarely for characters I can't find in Oxford.
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