On November 29, the Chinese Publishers Association Executive Vice President Wu Shulin was welcomed to Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) to give the 244th lecture in the SUSTech Lecture Series. His speech was titled “College Students and Reading,” and Communications & Public Relations Director Zhang Ling presided over the presentation.
Wu Shulin is also an adjunct professor at both Wuhan University and Nanjing University. He was the Deputy Director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (SAPPRFT), now known as the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA). Wu Shulin is an expert in culture & publishing and has long advocated for the construction of knowledge service to promote the production and dissemination of literature.
In the lecture, Wu Shulin pointed out that culture is an important force to promote reform and opening up, which is a reflection of the driving force behind China’s economic and social development. He said that reading should be based on mastering the scientific method. Wu Shulin stressed the importance of reading within the progress of a nation, as people can have more profound and considering thinking processes. The reading done by college students is the very foundation of reading done by every member of society, as it builds a scholarly community as a whole.
He expanded on his experience as a visiting professor at Harvard University. Reading for college students is not just “reading,” but is the cultivation of their own innovation, as they are standing on the shoulders of predecessors and giants. They must develop good reading habits and understand the content they have read to better serve society.
Wu Shulin took many questions from the audience at the end of his lecture.
Communications and Public Relations Director Zhang Ling said that reading is at the heart and soul of every university. The Lynn Library can recommend many books to its staff and students, and he hoped that the students would learn a lot from their reading and from this lecture.
