Abstract: The studies of the pathogenesis of alexia in the west were based on the alphabetic writing system. Chinese is a meaningful writing system, which has its own characteristic of orthographic, semantic and phonological. In recent years, with the development of cognitive neuropsychology, the researchers have investigated the Chinese alexic patients, revealed the special clinical feature of Chinese alexia, and discussed the pathogenesis of it. This article would review the advance of Chinese alexia.

Key words: Chinese alexia, cognitive neuropsychology, sublexical route, summation hypothesis, review