Chinese subtitle websites struggle for survival

[File photo]

Nov. 22 was a black Saturday for fans of foreign films and TV dramas since shooter.cn, a non-profit website where volunteer translators help with Chinese subtitles for foreign films and TV shows, announced it had closed.

Shen Sheng, the website owner, said: "I have lived with shooter.cn for 15 years. The values of our website, which I hope are to cross the boundaries of countries and help you to understand different cultures. If this website has indeed helped anyone, I would feel very satisfied. But now, this is the end for shooter.cn."

On the same day, , which also provides Chinese subtitles and downloads for foreign movies and TV dramas, suspended its operations. In fact, the website was blacklisted a year ago by the Motion Picture Association of America for copyright issues.

Copyright law is the biggest headache for such subtitle websites. Without licensing, the websites cannot make a profit, which later makes it difficult for them to operate. And even worse, the recent rules from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television asked companies that have obtained broadcasting rights of foreign TV dramas to submit the whole season with subtitles for censorship, otherwise the TV shows cannot be broadcast in China. These measures were huge blows to the subtitle websites.

Hundreds of China's non-profit subtitles working groups have been organized by foreign movie and TV fans during the past decade, through crowdsourcing. Most of them are Chinese students in foreign countries. The groups evolved from individuals to teams communicating online and using chat apps and finally establishing a website. When a group becomes big enough, they buy servers to launch video platforms for streaming or downloads.

Inside the group or website, there are different job assignments including downloading the source videos, translation, subtitle special effects, proofreading and making subtitled copies. was founded by Chinese students studying in Canada in 2004, and they started as a working group. In its heyday, they translated more than 130 TV series at the same time and had millions of followers.

Shooter.cn's Shen Sheng previously said establishing such a website is purely for entertainment and personal interest, and to satisfy the needs of internet TV show fans. In the eyes of many movie and TV fans, the subtitle groups are the perfect embodiment of the sharing spirit of the Internet.

After both sites were shut down in November, some followers even summed up the "four significant translation waves which changed Chinese history," saying "the first one was when the monk Xuan Zang and Kumarajiva translated Buddhist scriptures; the second one came when the enlightenment thinker, educator and translator Yan Fu and the writer Lin Shu translated elements of Western culture in the early 20th century; the third came when Sanlian Joint Publishing Company and Shanghai Translation Publishing House translated modern Western social science works after the Cultural Revolution; and the last one is the grassroots subtitle working groups who did a huge amount of works translating films, TV and other study materials."

Whether this is an overstatement remains to be seen in the years to come, but the subtitlers' hobby infringes copyrights. Legal experts said the translation is also a creative process that needs approval from the original creators, according to China's Copyright Law.

Before they are approved, according to China's Labor Contract Law, the subtitles would be in a gray area of a contract's "waiting effect" before the original creator and copyright owner's final approval.

The working groups and websites are operating in this "gray area" and are at risk if the original owners disapprove of them. But when responding the copyright issues, most working groups and websites say they are non-profit. But although they help Chinese people understand more about the outside world, they intentionally or unintentionally become a part of pirate economic chains.

However, the websites cost money. Even though the translators are doing it for fun, the server space is not free meal. Some big subtitle or download websites would have online ads, add links to commercial businesses, or charge money for downloads. But when a website becomes bigger, the copyright owners will come to their doorsteps.

Chang Yachun, an attorney from the Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, said it is nothing to do with profit. "The action is a company's action, and the infringement is an infringement no matter whether you are profiting or doing it for fun. Providing subtitles without the copyright owners' approval and providing download links is infringement."

With such risks, the subtitle websites cannot win over the hearts of venture capital investors. Thus far, no subtitle websites in China have got venture funding.

A partner from Sequoia Capital said they did not know much about such online community websites and had never invested in them. While subtitles websites have branded themselves as non-profit, the money they make puts them in a dilemma: if the investment money comes in, they have to work out copyright issues and develop commercial operation patterns which will be resisted by their target clients who want free downloads.

One anonymous insider from the subtitle business said, "If we started charging TV fans, we would lose a lot of our traffic." He also pointed out the subtitle working groups consist mostly of extracurricular professionals, which means they don't have the energy and time to make subtitle works into a legit industry. Under such circumstances, they are unable to attract capital investments.

However, the times are changing. More and more Chinese video sites, including Tudou.com and Youku.com, have acquired legitimate broadcasting permits from overseas partners and giants. More and more subtitle websites or working groups are trying to find "safe havens" for themselves by collaborating with big video sites. For example, the video site iQIYI.com acquired the broadcasting rights to the popular South Korea TV drama "My Love from the Star" and iQIYI.com later hired Internet subtitle working groups to participate in the translation. The industry watchers said this is a win-win working pattern for them under current laws and regulations.

Owner of the biggest platform shooter.cn Shen Sheng, after saying that his website was closed, started to pursue another career in the mobile phone game business and refused to accept any interviews. But other subtitle groups are still struggling to explore new frontiers, for example, by working with other free subtitle sharing websites overseas.