One hundrend copies of the new Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", which was released globally on July 16, were sold in Chongqing, the biggest industrial and commercial city in southwest China.

Peng Ying, manager of Chongqing Book Trading Mall, the exclusive sales agent of the book in this southwest mountainous city, said they had ordered more copies and the second batch of the new book copies would arrive in town in 10 days.

Chen Yin, a senior middle school student who had just placed an order for one copy of the American edition of the Harry Potter book at the mall, said: "I must get one copy of the new Harry Potter book as I have read all the previous five series, and by reading the new book, I could improve my English comprehension."

According to Peng, hot sales of the book have also boosted the sale of the previous five Harry Potter series at the mall.

China is ranked the fourth globally in terms of new book orders, after Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The Chinese version of the sixth Harry Potter book, by the People's Literature Publishing House, is expected to be ready for the market in October.

Source: Xinhua