(Photo/Chinanews.com)

In 2018, almost 30 million people were added to the population of keen readers thanks to the widespread use of e-books and convenient access to books, according to a newly released report on reading patterns in China, Chinanews.com reported on Jan. 8.

Last year, Chinese people bought an average of 5.5 paper books each via platforms such as Tmall, Taobao, Xianyu, and Alibaba Literature, and read one more book, on average, than the previous year, the report revealed. The report was issued by Alibaba and based on data from various platforms.

A reading map in the report indicated that people living in the developed coastal provinces and cities read more, with Shanghai enjoying the highest reading rate across the country. Career-themed books and foreign language books, especially those which were imported, were favored among Shanghai readers.

Those who were born in or after the year 2000 were more interested in buying exam guides, while the post-90s group, who are now in their 20s, started to buy parenting and psychology books.

The post-80s and -90s generation bought more books than any other age group on Tmall and Taobao, accounting for 38 percent and 37 percent respectively. In the same year, the number of book orders online rose by 17 percent year-on-year.

Furthermore, nearly half of all digital book readers (46 percent) belong to the post-90s generation, according to the report.

The year of 2018 was significant in terms of the flow of second-hand books. On Xianyu, Taobao’s second-hand mobile app, readers exchanged used books with each other, and data showed that readers in Guangdong, Shanghai, and Beijing ranked top in regards to book exchange.