China's anti-piracy authorities organized public burnings of 5.2 million pirated books and compact discs Monday morning in several localities across China.

The anti-piracy authority said in a statement the public burning of the counterfeit publications, software and videos demonstrates China's resolve to protect intellectual property rights.

The items were incinerated in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Sichuan.

More public burnings will be held in the lead up to World Intellectual Property Day on April 26.

China began a nationwide crackdown on piracy and counterfeit and shoddy goods in Nov. 2010. As of Dec. 31, 2010, 650,000 law enforcement personnel had been dispatched to examine producers and sellers of books, software and video products.

They confiscated 6.33 million pirated items and imposed fines of over 3.4 million yuan (US$512,000) in 227 cases of infringement of intellectual property rights.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2011)