A large electronic game exhibition will raise its curtain on Thursday in east China's industrial and commercial center Shanghai.

Cosponsored by the State Administration of Press and Publication, the National Copyright Administration, the State General Administration of Sport and Shanghai Municipal government,the third China International Digital Entertainment Products and Technology Application Exhibition will be held in Shanghai's new International Expo Center, lasting for three days.

World famous electronic game makers including EA Sprots, Intel,Sony, Sega, KOEI, Ubisoft will take part in the exhibition.

More than 200 new electronic games will be shown at the exhibition, of which 60 percent have not entered the Chinese market.

The companies will also display many hardware products and digital devices which are closely related to the electronic games in the exhibition. Yu Yongzhan, deputy head of the State Administration of Press and Publication, said the exhibition is being held to activate China's electronic game industry, promote international cooperation and strengthen the protection of property rights.

Statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry said China has more than 100 million netizens, 30 percent of which are broadband users. More than 20 million Chinese are playing on-line games, bringing 2.47 billion yuan (about 300 million US dollars) to China's electronic game market in 2004.

Source: Xinhua