Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

 Reading is a universally recommended behavior, but it seems not to be universally lauded.

Recently, a set of pictures set off hot debate in China. In the pictures, a group of primary school students from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, are seen sitting on the floor in Osaka airport and reading books quietly during a trip to Japan to attend a summer camp. And their suitcases were also lined up in an orderly fashion.

What's noteworthy is that not long before that, several similar pictures posted on social media by a Thai netizen went viral in China. The pictures showed Japanese students sitting on the ground and reading books while they waited in Thailand's Chiang Mai airport. None of them were playing with a smartphone.

Be it comic books or literary masterpieces they were reading, both Chinese and Japanese students deserve applause for enjoying reading. However, they met with different responses in China.

Chinese netizens showed admiration for the diligence of Japanese students and said they represented a nation that China has much to learn from. But when it came to the bookish Chinese students, some netizens immediately turned the page and said the picture was staged by teachers to imitate the Japanese students. They didn't believe that Chinese students can enjoy reading as much as their Japanese peers.

Bashing Japan has long been common in China, but now Japanese students are winning more trust than their Chinese peers from Chinese netizens. This stark contrast tells a lot.

In recent years, Chinese people suddenly began to realize the big gap between China and its neighbor to the east. While Chinese tourists disturb people across the world with their poor manners, such as drying underwear in airport lounges and loudly talking everywhere, Japan has become known for its well-behaved citizens, craftsmanship and high-quality products.

It's interesting that many Chinese immediately change their past resentment for Japan after a trip to the country and tend to believe that everything Japanese is better, be it products or people's behavior.

On the other hand, today many Chinese habitually question everything said and done by the authorities. They tend to believe in every dark side revealed about China, no matter whether it is true or false, but have very little confidence in positive stories.

It's true that in some schools, students are often asked by their teachers to recite prepared words and give perfect performances to please visiting government officials. But this doesn't mean that skepticism should prevail and the excellence of these students should be smeared.

It's time for Chinese netizens to adopt a more reasonable and less radical view toward the gap between China and Japan. After all, it takes time to learn from others' strong points and narrow the gap.

Some Chinese citizens are yet to improve their civility and public institutions like schools need to first behave themselves honestly to win public trust. But undeniably, in the globalized era when Chinese students have more access to the outside world, they are becoming just as excellent as their foreign peers. They deserve to have confidence placed in them by their compatriots.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. sunxiaobo@globaltimes.com.cn