Shanghai Epic Music Entertainment Company Ltd., a cooperative joint venture between Sony Music International, Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and Shanghai Jinwen Investment Co. Ltd., was established in May 2001. It was the very first foreign Joint Venture in both, media production and in the replication industry in China and specialises in audio and video content production and in optical disc replication and distribution. The factory division Shanghai Epic Manufacturing Operations is based in the Song Jiang Industial Development Zone in Shanghai and commenced its operations in July 2002. In January 2009 Shanghai Epic opened the first BD50 replication facility in China and became the major Blu-ray disc replicator for both the Hollywood studios and the local movie business for the whole Asian Pacific region. Utilizing Sony’s proprietary mastering and replication technologies optical disc masters of world-class quality as well as optical discs are manufactured by Shanghai Epic (i.e. VCD, CD, DVD and Blu-ray). In addition and as part of Sony DADC's global supply chain network Shanghai Epic provides the full range of DVD Authoring services, pre-mastering services, first class copy control techniques as well as advanced digital solutions and applications for the entertainment industry.