In Chinese, the verb “read” is generally expressed as “讀書” (dú shū). The character “讀” (dú) itself, as revealed by the structure of Chinese characters, denotes an act secondary to “言” (yán – to speak); a book is meant to be “read,” that is, to have its characters pronounced aloud—a practice commonly seen in classrooms with children reciting texts. This aligns with the understanding of reading in many languages. The English word “read” derives from the Middle English “reden,” one of whose meanings is “utter aloud”; the French “lire,” Italian “leggere,” and German “lesen” all share a common origin in the Latin “legere,” also meaning “to pronounce the letters.” This is natural for phonetic scripts: with a basic grasp of the alphabet, one can sound out words even without understanding their meaning, allowing the act of reading to proceed. However, Chinese also has another way to express the act of reading— “看書” (kàn shū). If a book is meant to be “read,” why also “seen”? The answer lies in the very essence of Chinese characters. The most striking difference between Chinese characters and phonetic scripts is the significant presence of pictographic elements. A character like “日” (rì – sun) or “月” (yuè – moon) first presents to the eye the shape of the object it imitates, and anyone, even without knowing Chinese, can grasp its meaning. In other words, the pictographic nature of Chinese characters determines that it is a visually prioritized language. And “看” (kàn – to see), a character originally denoting the act of placing one’s hand above the eyes to gaze into the distance, further emphasizes the visual quality of Chinese characters. Perhaps the character “ 書” (shū – book) itself deserves to be mentioned. Xu Shen’s Sayings on Writing (Shuowen Jiezi) defines “書，箸也。從聿，者聲”(Its original meaning referred to the act of holding a brush and writing on bamboo or silk); Only later did it come to denote the result of that writing—the book itself. Despite both referring to “book,” the act of writing the book takes precedence over the book as an object. This means that the “book” EXHIBITION DEDICATION Book as Art —Preface to the “Regarding Books” Exhibition 27
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