BEIJING, Oct. 17-- Wang Zhezhe, 15, rushed out of her house in Shanghai's Putuo District and reached the Fuzhou Road Branch of Shanghai Book City just minutes after 9am on Saturday- the Harry Potter witching hour.

She ran straight toward piles of the Chinese edition of"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" in simplified characters, and picked up three books without a second thought.

"I bought all the first five books and have been waiting for this latest one," she said."One book is for me and the others for my classmates, who are both faithful Harry Potter fans like me."

Since it first hit the book shelves at midnight Friday, thousands of the Chinese version of the sixth Harry Potter book have been sold from the city's bookstores. The book is priced 58 yuan(US$7.20), and is sold for 10 yuan less online.

"It's very expensive," said Yu Jiaying, 15, who put the book back three times before she finally took it to the cashier."But its magic is irresistible."

According to Shanghai Book City, one of the biggest book retailers with 5,000 copies in storage, about 3,700 books were sold at its four chains by 5pm yesterday.

"It has already become a bestseller," said Jiang Lan, a company official.

Green posters of Harry Potter are displayed in the windows of all bookstores on Fuzhou Road. The new books are piled near the entrances to attract passionate Potter buyers.

Many readers chose to buy the books online. The Shanghai-based Readclub book mall, the nation's only online store permitted to sell the book in advance of official release, said it has sold more than 10,000 copies.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)