Learning to Read

Learning to Read is a selected collection of Ye Shengtao's essays on reading and the study of Chinese language and literature, compiled by "Haodu" and published by Beijing United Publishing Company in 2021. Built around the idea of "learning to read," the book organizes Ye Shengtao's decades of experience in Chinese language teaching and reading guidance into four sections. The first, "A Million Reasons to Read," discusses the attitude toward and significance of reading, including pieces such as "Books and Reading," "The Attitude Toward Reading," "Reading Is the Foundation of Writing," and "On Reading Classical Chinese." The second, "No Small Matter in Reading," discusses study methods from the perspective of the Chinese curriculum and the study of the national language, including "What Kind of Subject Is Chinese Language," "A Brief Discussion of Learning the National Language," "Two Basic Concepts of National Language Teaching," "Methods for Learning the National Language in Middle School (Excerpt)," and two essays on explaining classical Chinese. The third, "Learning to Read," is the heart of the book, covering careful reading, engaging the imagination, training language sense, and pondering textual meaning, with prefaces to Examples of Intensive Reading Guidance and Examples of Extensive Reading Guidance clarifying the paths of intensive and extensive reading, plus reading guidance for Cuore and Call to Arms. The fourth, "What Books to Read," discusses student reading, the selection of extracurricular reading, and how to read Common Classical Texts. The arguments are plain and grounded, advocating "living reading" rather than "dead reading," addressing both attitude and technique, and remain practically valuable for readers today who wish to improve their reading and writing and refine how they guide others through the classics.