Shanghai Library director Wu Jianzhong revealed in "i-Reading on Subway" event organized by the Shanghai Women's Federation, held at the Subway Music Corner together with Shanghai Library and Shanghai subway representatives in the city's Renmin Square on Wednesday, that adult women in Shanghai love reading lifestyle-related books.
According to Wu, millions of adult female readers love books which discuss work, family, life, fashion and cooking.
At the libraries, novels, children's literature, poetry and family education were popular among female readers, as as well as those about gardening and pets.
In 2014, Shanghai Library record shows that it received over 980,800 adult female readers, compared to any other cities and provinces of China as well as to over 150 countries and regions in the world.
Books and articles for adult women have been increasing in the past four years, and 45 percent of those were usually borrowed by middle-aged women.
The director also shared that adult women have more passion in reading compared to adult men and other age brackets of both sexes.
However, despite the large number of interested adult female readers in Shanghai, the reading rate in all age brackets across China has decreased by 1.3 percent in 2012 to 76.3 percent.
On the other hand, in a survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication in 2014, 57.8 percent of Chinese adults from the 40,600 respondents read paper books, while 50.1 percent read digital books.
Moreover, 70.85 percent read newspapers and 5.51 percent read magazines a year.
The survey also showed that only 1.2 percent of adults are satisfied with their reading habits, 8.4 percent are contented, 37.6 percent find their reading habits as normal, while 52.8 percent are not satisfied.