A group of government officials, artists and people from video and audio businesses gathered Thursday in Beijing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of China's gramophone record industry.

Officials from the State Administration of Press and Publication pledged to support the development of the local video and audio industries while cracking down on piracy.

In 1904, a local company issued the first Chinese-made records, recordings of Beijing Opera masters such as Sun Juxian and Tan Xinpei.

Currently, there are more than 300 video and audio companies and more than 100,000 retailers in the country. Last year, China published more than 28,000 kinds of visual and audio products worth more than 2.7 billion yuan (about 325 million US dollars).