Professor Zhou Xuanlong of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University Photo: Li Hao/GT
As digital technology reshapes how people access information, the value and future of traditional reading face growing scrutiny, said Professor Zhou Xuanlong of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University while attending the Global Times "Spring Reading" event at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing on April 20. He offered a thoughtful defense of reading's enduring importance.
Drawing on decades of experience in publishing, education, and academia, Zhou, who is also a former chief editor of Zhonghua Book Company, said that while the society should embrace technological advances, it must also safeguard the humanistic spirit and deep thinking to ensure the confident transmission of cultural heritage.
The core value of reading has remained unchanged throughout history, Zhou said. Reading's main role is to help us gain knowledge, particularly the kind of systematic understanding that other media cannot easily replicate. But its core goes further: It serves as a vital pathway for cultivating values, sharpening aesthetic judgment, and enhancing expressive abilities.
"Cultivating cognitive competence and judgment relies heavily on reading," Zhou emphasized. Early immersion in classical works such as Tang Dynasty poetry shapes an individual's aesthetic framework and worldview. Neglecting this cultivation risks broader societal problems, including declining cognitive levels, heightened emotional reactivity, crude aesthetics, and impoverished language. These mental faculties, he argued, resemble martial arts skills that demand sustained, systematic training through reading.
Despite China elevating nationwide reading to a national cultural strategy, Zhou expressed concerns over declining per-title book sales and overall reading volumes. He cautioned against simplistic blame on digital media, pointing instead to deeper socio-cultural factors. China's longstanding tradition of "studying to become an official" persists, while the more profound, character-shaping reading culture, historically aimed at nurturing personal cultivation rather than immediate gain, has been increasingly squeezed by fierce social competition.
Amid the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), Zhou has paid particular attention to the necessity of deep reading. He referenced scholarly discussions warning that excessive "external" or offloaded knowledge can leave the human mind hollow. Human knowledge comprises both internal reserves — built through deep reading, reflection, and memory — and external supplements. Without a solid internal foundation, individuals cannot effectively leverage AI tools, nor can they generate emotional resonance, intellectual associations, or genuine innovation.
Zhou criticized trends in humanities research that over-rely on technical methods or minutiae of textual verification while sidelining critical thinking. If technology fully supplants personal reflection, both academia and broader intellectual life face serious risks. He maintained that humanity's capacity for speculation, reflective reading habits, and humanistic traditions represent civilization's unique treasures. In any future shaped by advanced technology, humans must retain a central role in their own civilizational framework—otherwise, they risk losing their fundamental purpose.
To address these challenges, Zhou offered concrete recommendations. On the personal level, he strongly advocated that children read physical books. Chinese characters are abstract symbols; turning them into mental images and scenes through imagination is essential for cognitive development. Over-dependence on audiobooks or videos, which present ready-made visuals, may atrophy this imaginative capacity. Zhou himself prefers printing electronic documents for paper reading, noting that the physical layout — such as remembering a poem's position on a page — strengthens memory and comprehension.
At the societal and educational levels, he called for renewed emphasis on systematic, structured knowledge rather than fragmented information. Publishers, meanwhile, should return to their core mission: Refining content and aesthetic presentation while clearly articulating each book's unique contribution to readers.
Despite the early-21st-century predictions that digital publishing would kill paper books, Zhou remains optimistic.
"Books will always serve as an important carrier of human spiritual inheritance," he said. Society needs successive generations to persist in thinking, reading, and self-improvement. While respecting technological progress, people must stay rooted in the essence of reading and maintain confidence in their own culture.
