Schwarzenegger arrived in Beijing on Monday to start a six-day mission to promote California products and encourage Chinese officials to crack down on the piracy of copyrighted music, movies and software.
The governor will visit Shanghai and Hong Kong later in the week. In Hong Kong, he will kick off an anti-piracy public-service campaign starring himself and action star Jackie Chan.
His first day schedule included the Special Olympics tribute and a reception with the 80 business leaders accompanying him on the trip, as well as a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu.
Schwarzenegger's trade mission will provide a much-needed fresh start after the losing special election campaign, allowing him to reclaim his role as California's high-profile ambassador-in-chief.
As Schwarzenegger prepares to tackle China's rampant intellectual property theft, one doesn't have to travel far through the bustling streets of Beijing to realize how vast the problem has become.
U.S. government officials estimate that Chinese piracy has cost American companies billions of dollars in sales, with counterfeit software in the Asia-Pacific region costing U.S. companies US$8 billion last year alone. At least 90 percent of software programs and movie DVDs sold in China are pirated, according to some industry estimates.
Schwarzenegger's own action films are available for purchase in China, mostly on pirated DVDs.
Counterfeit products are everywhere -- from phony "Beijing 2008 Olympics" T-shirts hocked on the Great Wall, to the colorful Beijing street market where savvy tourists can buy knockoff Louis Vuitton and Prada handbags for pennies on the dollar.
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