Reading ten thousand volumes and travel ten thousand li” a Chinese saying goes. It means one should read as many books as possible and at the same time travel as much as possible so that he can make a gentleman of himself.

Some say reading means one’s soul is on the road while traveling, one’s body. Actually, one’s soul and body can’t depart from each other. One who reads without body is moving air; one who travels without soul is moving meat,both are of no man. So it doesn't exist such a person who can part his soul from his body. Yet it isn’t possible that either your soul or your body must be on the road. United, you are real; separated, you are dead. That is to say, when you read, you need to think; when you travel, you need to think. Man is but a thinking reed, an Pascal put it. Whether you are reading or traveling, you must put your mind on it, or you get nothing from it, let alone widen you vision and broaden your mind. Impossible. Some exaggerate the value of traveling by saying that traveling is to discard ignorance and prejudice, to have a dialogue with one’s mental being etc. You’ll have noticed that when he talks about the dialogue with one's mental being, he is emphasizing the part one’s soul plays in the traveling.

When one says that traveling can enlarge one's vision and broaden one's mind, he implies that the more one travels, the larger one's vision is or the broader one's mind is. I totally can go there with him. Why? So many people are encouraged by the Chinese saying that they travel a lot but return with mind blank except some pictures of beautiful scenery. Yes, they really have traveled ten thousand li, but they travel without knowledge and thoughts. They just cover a long distance and a large area with their feet. They walk and take photos, but never think about what they saw. They are amazed by the beauty of the scenery but never think about it. They return with less money and more exhaustion, nothing more. What significance does traveling bring to him?

On the other hand, some people enlarge their vision and broaden their mind so much that it’s hard for others to attain. Kant never left the small town where he lived but he is one of the greatest philosophers in the world. His vision was large, so large that the whole universe was in his sight and insight; Spinoza hired a small house in the village of Rijinsberg near Leiden, and spent his days polishing lenses for optical instruments but he was also one of the greatest philosopher in the world. His mind was broad, so broad that he “approached all problems as universal problems” (by Van Loon). They did not travel much, but their vision and mind are large, hard to reach.

My conclusion is apparent: traveling doesn’t necessarily enlarge one's vision and broaden one’s mind. Traveling is not so amazing and powerful. To exaggerate the influence of traveling on one’s vision and mind is to mislead one into thinking that traveling is with magical power that can make one become a man of deep insight and thought.

Traveling doesn’t create miracle. People create miracle by traveling. They can create miracle by traveling because they travel with knowledge and thoughts. If not, they are just a piece of moving meat. To a piece of moving meat, traveling does no good at all.