A spokesman said progress has been made to tackle the issue, but some problems still remained in a number of regions.

He revealed many supervisors had been beaten up during the campaign and one had even been stabbed to death.

The spokesman said between October 27, when the campaign started, and November 17, 245,000 supervisors took part in the campaign, confiscating fake commodities and putting more than 150 people into prison.

The bureau said fake products were mainly a problem in light industries making such things as food and beverages, clothes and electric appliances.

The campaign began with a televised conference at which Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo called on governments at all levels to react promptly to crack down on fakes products.

In Guangdong Province, supervisors closed 29 fake products factories in the eastern part of the province, destroying goods worth 15 million yuan (US$1.8 million). Products confiscated included cigarettes, batteries and electric appliances.

And between October 26 and November 6 in other parts of Guangdong, supervision staff and police forces closed another 41 fake product centres, confiscating fake commodities worth 40 million yuan (US$4.8 million). Local police forces are still investigating 23 other cases.

In Shandong's Linyi, officials found more than 100,000 fake "Safeguard'' bars of soap and closed a product line in the factory they were found in.

In other provinces, such as Hebei, Zhejiang, Liaoning and Fujian, quality supervision departments closed dozens of production lines making fake goods and hundreds of producers were arrested.

The bureau said foreign companies which have factories in China warmly welcome China's efforts to crack down on fake products.

But the bureau also listed several provinces and regions which were reluctant to tackle the production of fake products.

Cities in Chongqing, Guizhou, Shaanxi and Henan are on the blacklist.

Most local governments in those cities refused to support the anti-fake campaign and some even helped protect fake goods producers, a bureau spokesman said.

Many quality control supervisors were beaten by fake goods producers when they raided factories and markets. One supervisor was stabbed to death while raiding a fake cigarette shop in Chongqing.

The bureau said they had reported the situation to the State Council.

It ordered subordinate departments to co-operate with local police to continue the battle against fake products in coming months.

It also asked provincial governments to help.

(China Daily 11/23/2000)