Between informal and formal cultural economybe improved. In a way, a subtitle group choosing to stand by the formal cultural economy is
using practical considerations to enable its own survival in the face of fierce competition
and challenges from video websites, other subtitle groups, regulation by the Chinese state, and
copyright pressure.
Even though some of the subtitle groups have allowed themselves to be absorbed into the
formal cultural economy in order to survive and extend their influence, they have not given up
trying to create alternative spaces of their own. There is always an ambiguous zone that subtitle
groups occupy and determining whether that space belongs to the official cultural economy
is difficult. First, both foreign copyright owners and video websites that have bought online
broadcast rights hold laissez-faire attitudes towards subtitle groups. In the case of YTET, the
contract agreements require the group to respect the release schedules of the video websites,
which precludes it from competing for the honor of having the first release (Jin 2014). However,
at a certain time after the official online premiere, YTET is allowed to post links to the subtitled
programs (which by then have been emblazoned with the YTET logo) for free download on its
forum. The same condition applies to TSKS. Online audiences benefit from this arrangement as
they can easily access multiple Chinese subtitled versions of the programs.
Although subtitle groups cannot afford the infrastructure required to support a major video
website, they have stayed on top of recent trends in the way video is consumed in order to better
meet the needs of their online audiences. Most of their online forums have shifted from being
P2P download sites to supporting multiple platforms that accommodate different streaming and
download options. Cloud computing technology, which allows for convenient online storage,
cross-device media access, and online streaming, is particularly popular among most subtitle
groups.
Becoming the center without the sense of a border
No matter it’s a download or online viewing, all the subtitled programs available to you
are produced by us. Doing a job with good quality is our most urgent mission.
( Jin 2014)So spoke Chen Yi from YTET, who revealed how subtitle groups have successfully penetrated
the Chinese-language Internet with their omnipresent Chinese subtitles, authorized or not.
Chen’s tone seems full of expert pride, exhibiting a fansubber’s faith in teamwork and enthusi-
asm for providing an excellent volunteer service. Fansubbers typically treat their work with an
entrepreneurial spirit, emphasizing the quality and efficiency of their job performance, which
conforms to the wider context of a neoliberal China on the rise in the global economy. What
makes the phenomenon of Chinese subtitle groups interesting is that they developed not as
amateur organizations subordinate to official social systems, as Fiske emphasizes, but that they
have established a professionalism that is productive and competent enough to be incorporated
into the formal cultural economy (Fiske 1992). Moreover, fansubbing is not only a form of
consumerism but also the expression of a burning ambition. It requires an adaptable attitude, a
competitive and expansionist mentality, and a penchant for boundary breaking.
Sun Ge, a Chinese scholar specializing in the comparative study of the history of Chinese and
Japanese thought, notes that mainland Chinese lack the notion of “nationalism,” when national-
ism is understood as feeling the existence of a border (Sun 2001, 18). Sun proposes that, because
of its accumulated history, geography, and politics, China’s self-image is one of a big center. She
states that because China sees itself in this light, it is not especially aware of “Asia” as a conceptual