Wang Hsing-ching - Views On Reading

Views On Reading

As a commentator of literature, Wang welcomes all different genres of books. He firmly believes that all books can be beneficial and that the more one reads, the more one will gain in that field of expertise. He recalled that in his childhood, he was unable to do anything but read.

One belief of Wang is that wisdom in different aspects are all inter-related. For him, the concepts of literature, history, and social theory can be easily understood. He believes that literature, poetry, politics, and philosophy are mutually related. Having this understanding, Wang likes to use poems to interpret international politics and the economic phenomenon in recent years. This proves that as a commentator of current affairs and as chief writer of The Journalist, he uses literary style to write journalistic articles.

A few years ago, Wang discovered an interest in linguistics. Some of the inspirations of Wang stems from the Chinese classic literature, novels, and prose, while some of them comes from news reports. Researching the origin and history of the common vocabularies, he also investigated the changing process of these vocabularies in society. To him, this changing process can be seen from the use of language in news reports, for the language the reporters used marks the changes in social value. In fact, his motivation and his way to learn about the origins of vocabulary is very applicable to the elements of journalism: both fields require accurate information, and verification by different reliable sources. We can only tell the truth (of events or the origin of vocabularies) after verifications.

Wang is a libertarian, and he believes that it is important to be aware of the language ambiguity in understanding readings. As there are some writers who easily confuse readers, with or without intention, great language skills and a critical mind are essential to make yourself clear about what you are reading and what the writers are telling.