Read to rescue the nation

It's not an overstatement.

Just read this article by Zhao Yiheng How The British Read. It reveals the fact that our nation has fallen behind at reading, far. Comparing it to Britain, a 'leading nation' in reading (statically. But the author has further proved his point by his reading experience in London and Wales), China has a huge illusion in a prosperous publishing but is extremely weak in book owned by each person, number and scale of public libraries, frequency of reading, etc.

Analyzing from the quantity aspect, this long article has left something undiscussed - perhaps because of the lack of statistics (cannot be measured by numbers at all) - the quality of, not the reading itself, publishing. The major problem is what is being published. 

Under the strict restriction of publishing (strict licensing, under a firm centralized government control), it is not surprising that only books without any valuable thought are possible to come out.

Our drawbacks are related to the habit, but more are related to a lack in free expressions. We used to be a learned, book-loving nation, but the authority's fear of voices is the obstacle to further civilization, whenever it is, throughout our history of civilization...

The Internet has made the issue both better and worse. While it is more accessible to all kinds of voices, it is more convenient to all kinds of rubbish, which has completely changed people's reading habits. (Read Nicholas Carr Is Google Making Us Stupid?)

To be continued...

p.s. would be happy to hear about how the British read nowadays - esp. the young generation - from the British's prospect.