A black and white pattern for coloring uploaded by the official Sina Weibo account of The Palace Museum. [Photo/Sina Weibo of gugongweb]

Extensive reading are not be neglected

For Qiao Xinsheng, scholar and professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, the activity makes perfect use of Internet trends to provide a simple and interactive experience.

"People want to personalize things that they see on the Internet, and it is a reflection of everyone's urge to participate in the Internet era," said Qiao.

The low threshold to participate in an event as simple as coloring is also one of the major contributors to its success.

"The simpler it is, the more people would want to try it. We live in a simplified time, a 'fast food' time. It's easy to try, and also easy to abolish," said Qiao.

However, Qiao also expressed worries that we may be living in a time of oversimplified, low quality reading material.

"We are in an era of reading pictures, and not words, but without deep and thorough reading, the free thinking mind will be lost. This is alarming. Pictures will fill people's eyes and brains but they may flash by like slides. What will be left in our minds then?"

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