Hanwang Technology Co (Hanvon) will invest heavily to expand its online book store to catch up with the world’s market leader Amazon, the company said. Sales of Hanwang’s e-book reader have reached more than 1 million units due to booming sales in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong province, according to Hanwang’s Chairman Liu Yingjian. By the end of next year, Hanwang’s online book store will include 200,000 books, a rise of 50% from this year, about one-third of Amazon’s 600,000 books now. “We have entered a new three-year period to establish a strong platform for e-books in China, not only selling devices,” Liu said. Hanwang aims to expand its online store to provide downloads of books, magazines and newspapers. The Beijing-based firm has launched an 8-inch e-book reader that allows users to use online social-networking services like Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. In 2010, China’s e-book reader sales are expected to rise fourfold year-on-year to 3 million units, according to U.S.-based research firm DisplaySearch.