The latest move of Xinhua Bookstore Wuhan Co. Ltd., China's largest book retailer, to combat piracy by offering discounts year round, has proved to be an immediate success.

Information from the company, an arm of the 70-year-old Xinhua Bookstore Chain, based in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, said all 49 shops with the company reported increased sales in the first week of 2005.

Xinhua Bookstore Wuhan Co. Ltd. tried offering a 20 percent discount on all books year round at one of its wholesale centers at the Wuhan City Book World in the year 2000. The method succeeded and was spread to all 49 retail outlets.

Many a privately-owned bookshops have started to feel the pinch from piracy, said Li Bing, general manager of Xinhua Bookstore Wuhan Co. Ltd.

He said he thought discounting would an efficient way to challenge pirated copies of legal publications, even though it might cause some losses in profits.

The state-owned Xinhua Bookstore Chains are the country's largest book retailer, where more 200,000 kinds of books are sold, including a monopoly on textbooks for primary and middle schools.

Its total sales have shot from 160 million yuan (about   US$19.3million) in 2000 to approximately 300 million yuan (some US$36.2 million).

(CRI.com January 20, 2005)