Following a two-year wait, Chinese readers will soon join millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide as he goes on his long-awaited sixth adventure.
   
The series' publishers announced last December that the next installment would be available in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa on July 16.

The China International Book Trading Corporation (CIBTC) said on Wednesday they will release Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by UK author J. K. Rowling, on the same day.
   
"The Harry Potter books will be sold at state-run Xinhua bookstores across China," said Jiang Tao, a CIBTC manager.
   
According to Jiang, there will be at least four editions of the new book -- a children's and an adult edition from both the UK and the US.

"The edition we will import is the UK children's edition," Jiang said, explaining that although there are no major differences between them, the company decided on the UK edition because the story is set there.
   
The upcoming release will be the second time that CIBTC will cooperate with Harry Potter's official publisher Bloomsbury.

In 2003, CIBTC released the fifth book of the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which sold more than half a million copies in China.
   
Jiang said the number of imported copies of the sixth book and the price are yet to be decided.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2005)