Objectives: To examine Chinese nurses’ practice of reading and understanding scientific literature and elucidate the motivating and deterring factors.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted between March and June 2015.A random sample of 853 full-time registered nurses from three tertiary and two secondary hospitals in China filled out a set of self-administered questionnaires,including literature habit questionnaire(41 items),the situational motivation scale and the socio-demographic and professional characteristics questionnaire(15 items).Results: Significant majority (89.2％) of the respondents reported perception of barriers to keeping up to date with literature.The language barrier was the most prominent,followed by poor presentation and readability of articles.Using simpler language when writing articles,improving ones’ foreign language proficiency and getting education or training on nursing research were raised as the top facilitators.Additionally,reading and understanding literature was significantly associated with the nurses’ educational background,motivation,genders and work settings.Conclusions: The survey of the current status of literature education among Chinese nurses suggests that providing protected time,training for critical thinking,and incentive mechanisms will help improve nurses’ engagement in literature and create a culture of academic inquiry.