Don't wear fake clothes overseas, Chinese told

BEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) A Chinese province has banned its tourists from wearing counterfeit clothes overseas to avoid flagrant abuse of intellectual property rights and to protect its image, local media said today.

The government in the northeastern province of Jilin had also banned carrying or sending pirated goods, including CDs and DVDs, overseas, the Beijing News reported.

''Jilin government ... requests the carrying out of a strict crackdown and regulation of counterfeit goods and discs sent by post or carried overseas. Wearing counterfeit brands overseas is also not permitted,'' the paper quoted an official notice as saying.

''Infringement of intellectual property rights in importing and exporting seriously damages the government's image.'' Billions of dollars of counterfeit goods, from liquor to luxury handbags and Hollywood blockbuster DVDs, are produced every year in China, flooding international markets and infuriating the United States and Europe.

In response to growing international pressure, China has repeatedly pledged to crack down on piracy, but fake goods are still sold openly on street corners.

REUTERS SHB BD1041