China's trademark applications grew on an average of 25.2 percent a year in the first five years of the decade, more than double the growth rate of the country's gross domestic product.

By the end of 2005, 132 countries and regions had filed a total of 2.499 million trademark applications in China, of which 442,000 applications came from other countries, according to official statistics released here Monday from the China Achievements Exhibition for Intellectual Property Protection (IPR).

The exhibition, the first in China highlighting intellectual property, opened on Sunday at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing.

China has ranked first in the world in the number of trademark applications for the past four years, according to the exhibition organized by China's 11 IPR-related governmental organizations which include the Ministry of Commerce, State Administration of Industry and Commerce, State Administration of Customs and the Bureau of Public Securities.

Trademark registration was first implemented in China in 1981. In the first 14 years trademark applications averaged 100,000 a year. Last year that number reached 400,000.

China's overseas trademark applications have also been on rise. In 1989, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce only received four applications to register overseas trademarks. By the end of 2005, however, the number has climbed to 1,334, up 31.4 percent over 2004, statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization disclosed.

As part of China's 2006 Intellectual Property Rights Protection Week, the eight-day exhibition aims to spread IPR related knowledge to the general public and epitomize the country's achievements in protecting trademarks, patents and copyright as well as customs and judicial affairs.