For much of the 20th century in China, 看报 (kànbào) was more than just a personal habit; it was a primary way of staying connected to the nation's pulse. Newspapers like the “People's Daily” (人民日报) were the main conduit for official information. The image of a grandfather (爷爷, yéye) or an elderly cadre sitting in a wicker chair with a thermos of tea and a newspaper is a quintessential, nostalgic scene of daily life. Unlike the Western image of a father reading the paper over breakfast in solitude, reading a newspaper in China could also be a communal activity. Work units (单位, dānwèi) and neighborhoods would often have public bulletin boards called 读报栏 (dúbàolán) where the day's papers were posted for everyone to read. This reinforced a sense of collective awareness and shared information. While the rise of the internet has made this habit less common among the youth, the concept of 看报 still evokes a sense of routine, tradition, and a slower, more deliberate way of consuming information, in stark contrast to the rapid-fire updates of social media today.
In modern China, the physical act of reading a newspaper is far less common than it used to be. However, the term 看报 is still widely understood and used, especially when referring to the habits of the older generation or speaking nostalgically. You would use 看报 specifically when talking about a physical, printed newspaper. For consuming news on a phone or computer, other terms are more appropriate:
Using 看报 today carries a slightly traditional or even old-fashioned connotation, but it is not incorrect. It simply specifies the medium.