The awards are the work of the General Administration of Press and Publications and the China Audio-video Association. The two bodies gave out gongs to more than 100 nominees. At the moment, more than 400 companies are part of China's audio-video and electronic publication industry, pumping out 30,000 products each year. Official crackdowns on illegal publishing have encouraged producers to raise output and offer the products at a lower price. The lower cost means the legal trade is becoming more competitive to the customer.

There are around 100 million sound systems in Chinese households. There's also about 80 million CD, VCD or DVD players, and more than 45 million computers. And the number is growing.

Wu Shangzhi, deputy director of General Administration of Press and Publications, said: "The piracy phenomena is an unavoidable social problem. But the situation is obviously reversing these days. Before 1997, total sales for copyrighted audio-video products were 150 million Dollars. But, according to our statistics, last year's total sales doubled that."

The demand for high-tech products is on the rise and hopefully the shift towards the legal end of the market will encourage more artists to offer the public more of their original work.

(CCTV September 27, 2003)