500,000 pencils, worth 150,000 yuan, were seized by police affiliated to the local administration bureau of industry and commerce in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province on March 22, 2007. [Photo: jxcn.cn]

Chung Hwa is a famous wood—rod pencil brand.

The 500,000 pencils, together worth 150,000 yuan recently seized by police affiliated to the local administration bureau of industry and commerce in Nanchang, in east China's Jiangxi Province, once again testifies to the fact that famous brands are often vulnerable to competition from counterfeit products.

China First Pencil Company verified at the end of March that they hadn’t manufactured any of the seized pencils, and that their trademark had been illegally used.

A Jiangxi provincial news website reports the pencils were transported with a good delivery note marked “spare parts” from Jinan, in east China’s Shandong province. The counterfeit pencils were discovered when found in the middle of the dividing process, prior to being transported throughout the province.

However, the recipient of the fake pencil bundles remains unavailable for investigation.

Counterfeit pencils cause harm in the national examinations, including the college entrance test, due to computers' inability to see through their smears.