From Yan Chongnian, Yi Zhongtian to Dangnianmingyue, the craze of the public for Chinese history seems more and more intrigued by their lectures as well as their works. In recent months, Yan's book on 12 Emperors in the Qing Dynasty and Yi's book, Savouring the Three Kingdoms are causing all the buzz in the street, easily topping the charts in nearly all bookstores. Does this new craze show Chinese people's passion for reading history, or just evidence that the masses follow each other blindly?

Let's look through some newspapers for their responses.

Reporter:
The Yanzhao Metropolis Daily argues that history related books have recently sold pretty well. But this only reflects the commercial success of publishers, having nothing to do with the prosperity of history research and studies. With the immense influence of the CCTV program, Lecture Room (Baijia jiangtan), some college professors have shot to fame overnight, becoming as popular as movie stars, and their readers and listeners are not less crazy than the fans following music stars.

On the other hand, those serious academic works on history studies are still on the bookshelf which no one pays attention to. It indicates that publishers, out of the consideration of commercial profits, merely want to make historical facts funnier and less academic. And these best-selling books may mislead people's comprehension of history. Therefore, the so-called "history reading craze" is still very superficial.

One article from Xinhua.net expresses its worries over this craze for the history reading as well. In the author's eyes, those professors and writers are adopting methods to make this serious subject more recreational. They do not treat the past very seriously; they do not leave footnotes or provide their evidence in the books either. So, some writers are turned into story-tellers. Ordinary readers, it is argued, cannot tell which part is true and which is wrong. Most people think it is enough for them to understand Chinese history by reading these best-sellers. But, the historians say, most of the time, what the authors write in their books are too creative to believe. Historians are afraid these authors will distract teenagers away from real history classics.

However, an article in China Daily stands on the opposite side. The author thinks it is good that history is becoming more popular among ordinary Chinese nowadays. We should applaud those who are able to make history a trendy subject for chit-chat around the dinner table or for leisurely reading during evenings or holidays.

And people should welcome and keep an open mind to all new explorations into past generations of Chinese. These are part of our endeavor to open our minds wider, to enhance our knowledge and analyses.