Mao Zedong and Zeng Guofan shared the following features in reading: firstly,they both saw reading as the most important thing in life;secondly,they both combined reading with a person's ambition and self-cultivation;thirdly,they both advocated broad reading followed by selective reading as well as persevere reading;last but not least,they both stressed reading in combination with practice.Their views on reading shed light on today's construction of learning society.