FOR A GENERATION of young Chinese, American television shows like "The Big Bang Theory", "Breaking Bad" and "Sex and the City" were their first taste of life in the West. Growing up with limited English inside China's "great firewall", millions of them watched pirated versions online, with the help of subtitles produced by volunteers. Many of the translators were Chinese students, both in China and at universities abroad. They provided their skills for little reward, except the glory of an on-screen credit, to streaming services that allowed free access or offered super-cheap subscriptions. Being accepted into such firms' "translation groups" was a badge of distinction. Standards were high and competition for membership was fierce. It will not be in future, however. On February 3rd 14 people from China's largest such streaming firm, Renren Yingshi (meaning "everyone's movies and shows"), were arrested in Shanghai for alleged copyright infringements. Since then, many other such outfits have gone underground or disbanded. For many internet users, this has been a sad moment. On social media they bade farewell to what they described as something irreplaceable: entertainment free of the dead hand of China's censors, and with far more accurate subtitles than most officially approved content.
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