As this Wednesday is World Book Day, China Youth Daily made a survey of readers' favorite books in the past few decades and discovered that people's preferences changed from generation to generation.

According to the survey results, after the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970's, "red classics," books featuring revolutionary stories, were the best-sellers, while modern poetry began to win the hearts of young readers during the same period.

In the following decade, thanks to the reform and opening up policy, more western works were introduced to Chinese readers. As a result, books on literature and philosophy hit the bookshelves. China Youth Daily attributed the popularity of western writers during the 1980's to that generation's curiosity about the western world.

When the 1990s came, the survey found that romantic novels became popular, with Eileen Chang, author of novels on old Shanghai lives and Haruki Murakami, a contemporary Japanese writer, as their favorites.

In the new century, in contrast to the past, readers started to have mixed tastes. The paper revealed that college students are interested in a wide range of books, from fairy tales and sci-fi stories to literature classics from both home and abroad.

In conclusion, the newspaper points out college students' choices of books are in line with the theme of the society and their personal psychological needs. The means of reading have also been broadened with the development of the mass media.