BEIJING: In a classroom in northeastern China, students are holding conversations with Confucius — not through seances or historical reenactments, but through artificial intelligence (AI).
At Hunnan District No 9 Middle School in Shenyang, Liaoning province, students use AI-powered software to interact with avatars of literary giants like Confucius and Lu Xun. With each interaction, these historical figures shed their textbook stiffness, becoming vivid, almost tangible guides in these students’ literary journeys. “AI is not just a tool here, it’s more like a guide and a mentor,” said Zheng Jun, the school’s principal. “It helps students crack open the classics and explore the depths of their meaning when they hit a wall.” These immersive reading experiences are part of a rising trend in China, where deep reading — once confined to libraries and lecture halls — is being reshaped by digital innovation.
According to official data, China’s digital reading user base totaled 670 million in 2024, up 17.5 percent year-on-year. Yet, as convenient as digital tools can be, experts warn of the challenge of preserving depth in an era of shallow, skimmable content.
For Nie Zhenning, head of the national reading committee at the Publishers Association of China, digital technology and deep reading are not opposites but partners in a new reading paradigm. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
