With the 27th World Book Day approaching, how should we view the relationship between paper books and e-books in the face of rapid development of e-books? Yan Chongnian, a famous historian, said that e-books are the progress of history, but when doing research, we must check the original data, because there may be errors in the process of transformation, and we must combine the strengths of the two.
Yan Chongnian is a famous historian, the main speaker of CCTV's "Hundred Forums", and is currently a researcher at the Institute of Manchu Studies of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, who studies the history of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu Studies, and the history of Beijing, and his monograph "Nurhaci Biography" has won the Beijing and China "Guangming Cup" Excellent Academic Work Award, and the National Manchu Studies Outstanding Achievement Award.
The famous historian Yan Chongnian brought readers the first activity of "Reading Beijing" in 2022 - "Beijing Cultural Heritage" lecture to "Read Beijing" with everyone. Beijing News reporter Pu Feng photographed
On the afternoon of April 21, the 2022 "Reading Beijing" Capital Citizens' Reading Series Cultural Activity Conference was held in the Lecture Hall of Block A of the Capital Library. At the scene of the event, the Beijing News reporter interviewed Mr. Yan Chongnian to talk about those things about reading.
"Reading is a staple of my life"
Beijing News: What books have you been reading recently? How long do I have to read every day?
Yan Chongnian: Recently, I was reading Mr. Han Meilin's "Book of Heaven", which is divided into two volumes, and I found it very interesting to read while studying. I wake up at 4 a.m. every morning, start reading before 5 or 5 p.m., and go to bed at night. My profession is to read and write books, and it can be said that reading is my life and the main content of my life.
Guests and reader representatives jointly launched the 2022 "Reading Beijing" campaign. Beijing News reporter Pu Feng photographed
Beijing News: What do you think reading has brought you? What do you think about the meaning of reading books today?
Yan Chongnian: I think that reading is first of all to increase knowledge, human knowledge is too much, and personal experience is limited, to understand a lot of things through reading. Reading is to have a dialogue with the author, a dialogue with the ancients, and a dialogue with excellent people abroad to enrich and enrich yourself. Reading a book is a feeling, have your own unique understanding, write an article or book, and further communicate with other people.
Reading can cultivate temperament, when you concentrate on reading, there are fewer distractions, unnecessary pain and trouble are eliminated, so I feel that my mood is always very happy.
Beijing News: Have you ever calculated how many books you have read?
Yan Chongnian: Roughly calculated, it takes about five years to write an innovative academic work, I need to read about 500 kinds of books, one kind of book may have many volumes, and there are 2500 kinds of books in five years. The ancients said "read ten thousand books", I think I am more than that.
The Beijing Shanshui Folk Music Troupe, a full-time orchestra composed of disabled people, brought the song "FlyIng Forward" specially created against the backdrop of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to the audience in the live broadcast room. Beijing News reporter Pu Feng photographed
Beijing News: What do you think of the relationship between "reading ten thousand books" and "walking thousands of miles"?
Yan Chongnian: It is not enough to be in the study, but to see the vast world and to contact reality. If you only read books, you can't innovate. For example, I ran to Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, along the Ussuri River, and found that the forest coverage rate of Waixing'anling, Daxing'anling, Xiaoxing'anling, Changbaishan and other places was very high, and the ancient forest coverage rate was higher, so I put forward the concept of "forest culture", and proposed that ancient Chinese civilization was mainly composed of five cultures: farming culture, grassland culture, forest culture, plateau culture and marine culture.
"How many times a book is read varies from book to book"
Beijing News: How do you view the relationship between paper books and e-books?
Yan Chongnian: E-books are the progress of history, and now I also use e-books, and its search function is very convenient. For example, if I look for a few words, from where the original text is, I can retrieve it at once, but I must check the original data to do research, because sometimes there may be errors in the process of transformation. I think it's still important to combine the strengths of both.
Beijing News: What advice do you have for young people to study at present? Should a book be read many times?
Yan Chongnian: Everyone's situation is very different, age, gender, education level, occupation, hobbies are different, it is difficult to prescribe a formula suitable for everyone. For example, when I go to a restaurant to eat, Sichuan people like to eat spicy, I don't eat spicy, or I have to look at my actual situation, and I have experience after reading more.
Read the book several times, but also depend on the specific situation of the book. Some books may just look at a few pages, and some books may just tell a few stories, just look at the stories. Some books are theoretical books, the reason is profound, after reading it, I feel that some places should be pondered a few times, you can turn it over several times. Some books may be read all their lives, called desk books, such as the "History" and "Explanation of Words" that we often read, and we can't count how many times we have read it. It varies from book to book, and it varies from person to person.
Recitation and chorus program "Books on the Mountain". Beijing News reporter Pu Feng photographed
Beijing News: At present, there are more "996" and "007", and some people say that they do not have time to read books, what do you think about this?
Yan Chongnian: It should be admitted that everyone is very busy now, and sometimes they can't find time, which is also understood, but time can be squeezed out. For example, if I travel on a plane, I will bring a book, not too thick, relatively thin, and I will finish this trip on a business trip. Time is precious, squeeze in time to see a little. Some people told me that he stipulated that he read a book for an hour every night, and some people set aside a day to read books on weekends, and everyone's situation is different, or they still have to have a constraint on themselves.
【Related News】
In 2022, "Reading Beijing" recommended science fiction works such as "The Three-Body Problem"
As a brand activity of public culture in Beijing, "Reading Beijing" has entered its 7th year, and in 2022, "Reading Beijing" will focus on the list of "Reading Beijing", "Reading Classics" and "Toward the Future", and deeply plan and carry out the city's recitation competition, the "Top Ten Excellent Reading Spaces - Grassroots Libraries Around the People" promotion activities, the "Reading with My Growth" theme activities, and the "Most Beautiful Book Review" collection and selection activities.
China Education Books Import & Export Co., Ltd. donated 31 language versions of "The Three-Body Problem" to the Capital Library. Beijing News reporter Pu Feng photographed
In 2022, "Reading Beijing" will recommend excellent science fiction literature books such as "Three-Body Problem" with the theme of "Toward the Future", and the new languages of "Three-Body" will continue to exist in the first picture in the future, and will also develop themed exhibitions, immersive new reading and other projects, inviting readers to think about the future in the science fiction imagination.
Liu Cixin, author of "The Three-Body Problem", sent a message to the "Reading Beijing" activity through video. Beijing News reporter Pu Feng photographed
On April 23rd and 24th, the Capital Library will hold three live broadcasts of "Ming and Qing Dynasty Beijing Travel Guide - Beijing in the Imperial Scenery and Material Strategy", "Into Science Fiction Literature - Literary Imagination of the Science Fiction World" and "Peach Red Willow Green April Day - Understanding Common Spring Flowering Plants" to accompany readers through a fulfilling reading weekend.
In addition, in order to let more people draw strength from the lens of the Winter Olympics, the Capital Library, together with the Library Society of China, China Daily and China Pictorial Publishing House, launched the national tour exhibition of "100 Photographers Focus on the Ice and Snow Olympics", and the first stop of the tour will be opened on April 26 in the Culture and Art Exhibition Hall of Block A of the Capital Library.
Beijing News reporter Zhan Shengjie
Edited by Zhang Lei, Proofread by Yang Xuli