China has held a firm hand in the fight against pirated audio and video publications and has created a positive environment for the protection of intellectual property rights.

Information from a recent national conference on these issues held in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that the Chinese Ministry of Culture has been involved in a full-scale publicity campaign against pirated publications of audio and video commodities since 1999.

Meanwhile, activities including surprise checkups of business booths and destroying of confiscated pirated audio or video commodities have been carried out, and authorities have required that authentic audio or video copies be sold to curb infringements of intellectual property rights.

To rein in pirated publication of video compact discs (VCDs), a large-scale crackdown targeting over 30 types of VCDs was launched nationwide last October, resulting in the confiscation of more than three million pirated VCDs.

The ministry has also cooperated with the General Administration of Customs in publishing detailed measures regarding management of imported audio and video commodities and standardizing their management.