Reading is a habit and keeps the mind alive

The 22nd annual World Book Day fell on Sunday. Although, on average, Chinese adults read 7.86 books in 2016, 0.02 more than in 2015, the number still lags far behind countries such as Japan or Germany.

And although Chinese are spending more time reading paper books in recent years, the increase has been far outpaced by the surge of reading on mobile devices. In 2016, an adult Chinese read paper books for an average of about 20 minutes. They read up to about 74 minutes on mobile devices, 3.7 times higher than paper book-reading time.

We now have more information at our fingertips than ever before. So, why should we value reading? An important reason is that, compared with knowledge that is fragmented or acquired through passive reception, reading provides systematic knowledge and encourages holistic thinking.