A nationwide campaign initiated by the Chinese Ministry of Culture destroyed 63.35 million pirated audio-visual discs Tuesday.

"This is the largest scale during similar campaigns for four consecutive years to rectify China's audio-visual markets," said sources with Chinese Ministry of Culture.

All the destroyed discs were confiscated last year, among which 13 million were destroyed in Guangdong and 5 million in Jiangsu, Shandong and Shanghai together, ministry's figures show.

In 2004, local governments have investigated 555,368 companies engaging in the manufacture or sale of audio-visual products and confiscated 154 million illegal discs, the highest number since similar campaigns were launched in 2001, the Ministry said.

Since 2001, more than 450 million illegal audio-visual discs have been confiscated, the Ministry added.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2005)