Between informal and formal cultural economyChinese subtitle groups have been deeply involved in the informal cultural economy since
their birth. The groups often add a standard statement to their subtitles saying, “Subtitles are not
made to earn money, but simply for the purpose of cultural exchange. Please delete this within
24 hours after downloading and support the copyrighted version.” Even though it is apparent
that subtitle groups are not profit seeking, they are still trapped in the grey zone of copyright
infringement. The Chinese government’s ruthless attack on BitTorrent forums, as mentioned
earlier in relation to subtitle groups and unlicensed websites, has forced both subtitle groups
and video websites to change. Major Chinese video websites have begun to spend large sums of
money to acquire copyrighted foreign programs. As these video websites have had a long-term
secret cooperation with subtitle groups in the circulation of unauthorized programs, they have
also started to seek formal support from experienced groups. This is also a strategy for video
websites to transform the subtitle groups from a competitive counterpart into a team member,
and to strengthen the market of copyrighted material with Chinese subtitles.
The news of official cooperation between video websites and subtitle groups was highly
publicized when one of the most popular Korean TV dramas, My Love from the Star, starring
Gianna Jun and Soo-Hyun Kim, overwhelmed China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in late 2013 and
early 2014. News reports indicated that one of the leading video websites, iQIYI, had bought
the online broadcasting rights of My Love from the Star and was working with TSKS, the leading
Chinese subtitle group specializing in Korean TV drama (Chen 2014). Due to the popularity of
this drama, it is estimated that iQIYI received more than 2.5 billion hits by mid-May of 2014.
iQIYI had initiated a nearly simultaneous broadcast with Korean TV station SBS, and promoted
that fact. In November 2010, TSKS announced that it had acquired the legal right to produce
the Internet versions of Chinese subtitled TV dramas and variety shows. SBS noted the excellent
performance of TSKS and decided to directly incorporate TSKS into its authorized distribution
system in order to better penetrate the Chinese market (Chen 2014). SBS’s strategy turned a
potentially hostile situation into a positive collaboration.
TSKS does not submit to iQIYI alone: it is allowed to distribute the subtitled versions of
shows via TSKS’s online forum after their premiere on iQIYI. SBS’s aim is to penetrate the
Chinese market, which similarly resonates with TSKS’s ambition to become the top player in
Chinese subtitle production for Korean TV programs. In addition to cooperating with video
websites, TSKS has close connections with online fan forums dedicated to various Korean stars,
idol groups, and TV dramas. TSKS and other subtitle groups sometimes work with these forums
to promote so-called “joint releases,” that is, subtitles produced, distributed, and circulated by
members of one or more subtitle groups working together with forum members.
Fansubbers as contingent, cheap labor
In 2012, I interviewed XB, a Taiwanese student who studied in Korea and had experience creat-
ing subtitles for a Chinese subtitle group for Korean TV programs. XB shared information about
TSKS, indicating that there had been some organizational and interpersonal disputes inside the
group for several years. In XB’s view, joint releases help to stabilize the organization and sustain
the regular release of their subtitles. First, the joint releases provide an opportunity to recruit
members from fan forums to work on Korean language translation. Fans are potentially effective
labor, willing to engage in work with selfless devotion, even though not all fan forums offer
assistance in translation. TSKS still plays the role of leader in joint releases because of its status as
a professional subtitle group. Second, it has become a rule for the co-opted fan forums to pub-
licly announce that they are not allowed to promote subtitles from TSKS’s competitors. This also
adds to TSKS’s reputation, which attracts not only more online viewers, but also fresh translation