The southern province of Guangdong is hoping undercover reporters are the solution to the trade in counterfeit goods that has traditionally been widespread in this area.

At a work conference in Guangzhou on Monday, Lin Ying, deputy secretary-general of the provincial government, repeated Guangdong Party chief Wang Yang's call to encourage the media to secretly visit places where the production and sale of counterfeit goods occurs to get detailed and accurate information.

"We can assign plainclothes police officers to protect the reporters who make undercover visits to the province's counterfeit production and sales centers to guarantee their personal safety if needed," Lin said.

Lai Tiansheng, director of the province's anti-counterfeiting action group, promised to award the reporters who have contributed the most to the province's work by sending in clues and offering evidence to police about locations where fakes are produced and sold.

"Media can inform the provincial publicity department and public security department about the reporters who will make secret visits to the counterfeit production and sales locations in advance, and police will make the arrangements (to protect the reporters' safety)," Lai said.

He hinted that more special operations would be launched to fight production and sales of counterfeits in the following months.

Shen Qiwu, a professor from the School of Journalism and Communication of Guangzhou-based Jinan University, said it is feasible to arrange for reporters to make undercover visits to the counterfeit production and sales locations.

"The reporters who make undercover visits can get first-hand and detailed information that cannot be gained through official channels," Shen said.

Wu Yifang, a white-collar worker in Guangzhou, said this tactic is effective.

"The suspects are always very sly. We learn from the media that the suspects are reported in many cases to have run away, or they destroy, hide or transfer the evidence before police officers arrive on the scene," she said.

Police across Guangdong busted 4,298 places for producing or selling counterfeits, and they seized more than 3.27 billion yuan ($522 million) worth of products in a special campaign launched early this year.

A total of 3,260 suspects have been detained in the campaign.

A special exhibition opened on Tuesday on Guangzhou's achievements in its efforts to crack down on criminal gangs that once used violence to monopolize the market for counterfeit goods.

In addition to many guns, bullets and illegal knives, a large number of counterfeit wines, handbags, knapsacks, medicines, food and other articles for daily use that have been seized by law enforcement officers in city-wide campaigns launched in the previous months are being displayed.

As of Sunday, police in Guangzhou had cracked down on 30 violent criminal gangs and detained 470 suspects.

And 1,199 more suspects were detained when police destroyed 1,063 counterfeit production and sales locations.

The show in Guangzhou Museum of Arts will last until May 26.