Date: March 28, 2023 

Source: CPC publicity department, Cultural Quality Education Office

Author: WANG Jing, ZHANG Mengyu 

Translator: LIN Yanfei, CHEN Shu

After more than a year's pause for Covid-19 prevention, JNU's Centennial Jinan Cultural Quality Education Lectures resumed on March 20, when Prof. Chien Pingyuan, Boya Chair Professor at Peking University, spoke on The Boundary and Technique of Reading: Book Reading, Image Reading and Museum Reading.” 

(Prof. Chien lecturing)

Focusing on the interaction of these three kinds of reading, Chien talked about strategy for book-reading, the meaning of image-reading and the technique of museum-reading. He led the audience in exploring the position, boundary, technique and fun of reading.

Taking his own reading experience as an example, Chien shared his insights on reading books, which he said is not only personal behavior but also a social phenomenon. He encouraged students to read not only useful books but also “useless books,” to find different possibilities in life and explore more lifestyles through reading.”

Chien, who is also a member of China Central Institute for Culture and History and director of the JNU Chaozhou Cultural Research Institute, illustrated the meaning of image-reading and museum-reading with his own experiences of writing and creating. “Image-reading is also a kind of reading – or, in other words, the right way to read today is to combine words and images,”he said. “Meanwhile, learning to ‘read museums’ means visiting places like museums, art museums and memorial halls.”

(Students asking Prof. Chien questions)

After the lecture, Chien had an in-depth exchange with the audience on topics raised by the students, such as how to deal with other people's doubts about reading “useless books” and the quantity and quality of reading.

As one of JNU's best-known campus cultural brands, the Centennial Jinan Cultural Quality Education Lectures have held more than 500 high-level lectures in the last 17 years on the university's five campuses in Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Shenzhen. More than 400,000 people have attended.