The Saturday campaign follows a pair of complaints filed Tuesday by the U.S. against Beijing in the World Trade Organization over product piracy and market access.

Workers across the country set fire to 30 million pieces of smuggled and pirated audio and video materials, software and 11 million copies of pirated and illegally published books and magazines, the Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.

"Through the act of destruction, we wish to show to the world the firm determination of the Chinese Government in protecting intellectual property," Long Xinmin, chief of the State Press and Publication Administration, was quoted as saying in the report.

Long added the campaign was also meant to "improve the awareness of the general public in fighting against pornography and illegal publications."

Xinhua said a quarter of the contraband material were destroyed in Guangdong, the economically dynamic southern province that abuts Hong Kong.

Law enforcement officers in the provincial capital of Guangzhou used shredding machines to get rid of 10 million pirated discs and 500,000 illegal publications, the report said.

China on Wednesday warned that the U.S. complaints against Beijing in the WTO could damage commercial relations between the two countries. The complaints accuse China of violating its trade commitments by failing to stop product piracy and of blocking market access for U.S.-produced books, movies and music.