The Xiangyang Road market, a downtown outdoor bazaar famous for cheap fake brand goods in Shanghai, was ordered to close Friday, said the municipal government information.

The market, located off the main Huaihai Road in downtown Shanghai, has attracted buyers from both home and abroad looking for deals on counterfeit goods of such world-famous brands as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel and Prada.

Business transactions were ordered to end at 9:30 p.m. Friday, and all stalls in the market will be cleared out by July 7, according to the city's government.

The market has about 800 shops and had an annual trade volume worth more than 400 million yuan (some 50 million U.S. dollars).

The closing of the market indicates the city government's resolve to protect intellectual property rights (IPR), said Gu Renda, an official in charge of market order in Shanghai.

Previously, the city's industry and commerce authorities had taken some measures, including posting notices forbidding the sale of fake brand names and confiscating some pirated goods.

A poll on 1,800 local citizens also showed that the majority of them supported the government's decision to close the market, believing the move can improve the image of this metropolis.

Closing the Xiangyang Road market will contribute a better market environment, but the production and sale of fake goods will not disappear without the government's long-term work to stamp it out, said a local lawyer.

Source: Xinhua