Since a crackdown got underway in 1996 over 220 illegal CD and DVD production lines have been closed, officials said yesterday.

The two latest illegal production lines were discovered by local police in Shenzhen on March 15 according to a report by the national anti-piracy office under the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Rewards of up to 300,000 yuan (US$37,500) have been offered to encourage members of the public to report any suspicious activity which could be related to the production, transport, trading and sale of pirated CDs and DVDs. "More than 40 million yuan (US$5 million) worth of rewards have been paid since 1996 and we plan to expand the system," said Wang Xikai, publicity director of the anti-piracy office.

In one Shenzhen raid more than 60,000 finished pirated discs and 730,000 semi-complete were found. Suspects Huang Wenxin, Hou Linping and Li Zhihui were arrested after police discovered their bootlegging base.

Police believe the production line could produce 30,000 discs per day and had generated more than 7 million of them since last July.

In a similar case around 360,000 pirated discs were found in a garage in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on January 15. While a more secret production center was uncovered in the cross-border area connecting China and Vietnam.

"Collusion between domestic gangs and overseas traffickers makes the situation more complicated," said Liu Binjie, deputy director of the press and publication general administration, who heads the administration's anti-piracy work.

The administration will launch a 100-day campaign urging people to say "no" to pirated discs and publications on July 15.

(China Daily July 5, 2006)