Today’s topic is scenery. To put it bluntly, the world is so big that I want to go and see it. When I see scenery and objects, it is called scenery. Reading is like traveling, as we can see things that we can’t see in our daily life. So, are traveling thousands of miles and reading thousands of books equally important? This is the increment of our lives. But here comes the question, you said this is not about travel. How did it get involved in reading?
In fact, many things must be viewed with reference to food and books so that we can see their panorama. Let me give you an example. For example, everyone is familiar with the Chinese proverb “reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles.” The meaning is quite similar to “the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” We can also state that knowledge comes from books and from experience accumulation.
Because it’s a Chinese term, let’s raise a scholar as in Chinese culture. To whom is this saying referring? There was a great scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties named Gu Yanwu. He was not only knowledgeable but also traveled extensively. He went through all the frontiers in northern China and finally wrote the famous set of geography books called “Pandect for Pros & Cons about Social, Political, and Economic Conditions throughout Ming Empire.” Let’s not talk about what the book is about but about how Gu walked and performed.
According to the records in the book, he usually brought two horses, three mules, and five livestock. What was he carrying? Not only luggage but most of them were books. When he arrived at an important pass, he would go to the local people or veterans and ask in detail what battles were fought there, and what was the offensive and defensive situations like.
If the situation that is asked is different from the situation recorded in the book, then something has happened to him. He would immediately find a hotel, open the book for detailed comparison or proofread. Why should it be proofread? The reason is very simple. What Gu cared about was not the scenery like mountains and rivers. What he cared about were the gains and losses of ordering chaos in the world and the geographical situation of his Chinese civilization. Looking at the things in the foreground, the records in the book must be compared with each other to become a person’s great construction and learning.
This is an example from China. In fact, there is also a tradition in the West. There is a word called the grand tour, a cultural tour of Europe formerly undertaken, especially in the 18th century, by a young man of the upper classes as a part of his education.
It is said that from the 17th century, the British have such a tradition of noble children, that is, around the age of 17, this young master has to be accompanied by a housekeeper at home and spend a few years traveling in Europe, and crossing the English Channel from England to Europe mainland to visit museums, learn languages, broaden horizons until they’re a real man and don’t go home and carry on the legacy.
For example, the British poets Byron, Shelley, and Keats in the 1980s and 1990s that we are familiar with are all like this. Today, many Western students have to conduct in-depth training in the year before entering university or in the year after graduation. It’s called a gap year all over the world, which is a gap year, and it is this tradition that has developed.
However, you will find out that as far as Byron or Keats I talked about in the early years is concerned, what was their line? Coming to the European continent from the UK was not fun. No matter where there are scenic spots, they want to find out about Italy and Greece because the roots of European culture are in ancient Greece and Rome. This is not an ordinary travel and sightseeing but rather cultural roots of British people’s European traditions.
When you look at reading and traveling, there is no contradiction between the scenery in front of you and the knowledge in the book. It can even be said that without reading the prototype as the background color, we can’t see anything.
In conclusion, scenery and its relation to reading and traveling. The author argues that both traveling and reading are important for personal growth, as they provide different perspectives and knowledge. the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page is used as an example of the importance of knowledge acquisition through both reading and experience. There is the tradition of the grand tour to Europe where British noble young men would travel Europe as part of their education. Reading and traveling complement each other, and that knowledge from books can enhance the experience of seeing the world.