As the first sales figures from the weekend have come in from Shanghai it has become clear that the new Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," released globally on Saturday, has been selling well.

Sources from Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore said they sold over 700 copies of the book in two days, while Shanghai Book Mall sold more than 600 on Saturday alone.

The book is imported by the children's book section of the Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore and there are three versions available for sale, American and British versions for adults and children, but its buyers are mainly young and middle aged people, said an official from the bookstore.

Shanghai Book Mall said that to mark the book's global release it opened two hours earlier than usual on Saturday. However, there was still a long queue of people, many of them having got up at around 3 AM.

An official from the mall predicted sales to exceed 1,000 on Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2005)