GUANGZHOU, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- China will target Internet cafes,the audio and video marketplaces across the country, in its nationwide summer campaign of inspection of the cultural market, which started here on Saturday.

  Chen Tong, chief of the audio, video and film section with the cultural market division of the Chinese Ministry of Culture, said the new action was imperative as cases of copyright infringement and piracy in the domestic audio and video market have rebounded alot in recent months.

    "Illegal business activities are rampant. For instance, publication of imported audio and video programs and works without prior approval is quite serious," said Chen. The summer campaign will strike hard against pirated DVD compression packing, commonlyknown as HDVD, illegally imported audio and video works and other illegal audio and video brand products.

    The campaign will end in mid-September.

    Chinese law enforcement workers seized 154 million pieces of illegal audio and video works and 10.45 million copies of illegal publications across China last year, and confiscated 48.52 millioncopies of illegal audio and video discs in the first quarter of this year.