Wisdom of the printed page

Chinese reluctance to read deeply underlines the nation's recent departure from the era of subsistence and its current obsession with affluence.

On a flight from Frankfurt to Shanghai, an Indian engineer noticed row after row of Chinese passengers deep into their iPads, playing games or watching movies. None was doing any reading.

Meng Shamei, the Chinese name of this engineer, posted his or her observation online and got a tidal wave of responses, most of which corroborated his or her view.