Millions of pirate items destroyed in BJ

Millions of pirate DVDs and CDs were destroyed in Beijing on Sunday, as part of a national campaign to protect intellectual property rights.

Millions of pirate DVDs and CDs were destroyed in Beijing on Sunday, as part of a national campaign to protect intellectual property rights, ahead of World Intellectual Property Day on April 26th.

Despite the rainy weather, the authorities collectively destroyed pirated discs by putting them through grinders.

Liu Binjie, the deputy director of the national anti-pornography and anti-illegal publications work group, said that the event would show China's determination to stop piracy.

Liu Binjie, Deputy Director of National Anti-pornography & Anti-illegal Publications Work Group said "Through today's large scale disposal, we hope that we can further show the world the Chinese government's strong determination to protect intellectual property and crackdown harshly on piracy."

The anti-piracy campaign involves all the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Chinese mainland.

A total of 47 million unauthorised items were destroyed, including 2 million in Beijing's main venue.

In an annual report, the agency said authorities seized nearly 76 million pirated movies, software discs and other goods last year and shut down 13,000 piracy-related businesses. Authorities also promised to make special efforts to protect Olympics-related trademarks.