(WSJ) An effort by police to shut down a pipeline for pirated content has resurrected debate around censorship in China, opening a window into the anxieties felt by many Chinese as the country grows more inward-looking under leader Xi Jinping.
For several months, authorities in Shanghai have been investigating members of Renren Yingshi, a sprawling network of translators that provides uncensored foreign TV shows and movies to millions of Chinese under the guise of education, over suspected copyright violations.
The probe attracted little notice until earlier this month, when Shanghai police issued a notice revealing the detentions of more than a dozen people as part of the investigation. The announcement set off an outpouring of anguished messages from supporters online, including on Weibo, a popular Twitter -like platform, where the hashtag “Renren Yingshi investigated for pirated videos” attracted 800 million views in less than 24 hours.
“Salute to all those who have helped us open the door to the world in all eras,” Yan Feng, a literature professor at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University, wrote in a Weibo post to his more than 5 million followers.
“How about giving us a legal and uncensored avenue instead?” asked another user, whose comment received more than 23,600 likes.
The outsized reaction to the possible demise of Renren Yingshi, which roughly translates to “Everybody’s Film and TV,” illustrates the voracious appetite for uncensored foreign content that still exists in China, even as Mr. Xi feeds a nationalist fervor and inveighs against the influence of Western ideas. It has also provided a rare occasion for some Chinese citizens, mostly well-educated urbanites, to push back against censorship at a time of increasingly tightened media controls.
Originally one of dozens of volunteer collectives that compiled unofficial subtitles for pirated movies and TV shows and then uploaded them for streaming or downloading, Renren Yingshi has evolved into the country’s most widely known provider of uncensored foreign content, with its own website and a popular app. As of early February, the group’s website boasted more than 8 million registered members and was hosting roughly 20,000 movies and TV shows for download, according to the Shanghai police.
Renren Yingshi’s website was accessible on Tuesday, but its download service no longer worked. It didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“If Renren has committed a crime, then everybody has committed a crime,” several Chinese social-media users wrote in a play on the group’s name.
Pirated content has been a staple in China’s entertainment diet since the late 1990s, in part because of restrictions on the import of foreign films and censorship that many viewers blamed for rendering some shows unwatchable.
Censorship has grown even tighter under Mr. Xi’s hardline nationalist rule even as more Chinese companies try to cash in on local demand by licensing popular Western shows. Users of Chinese video-streaming sites went on social media in 2019 demanding their money back after censors removed several important expository scenes from HBO’s hit show “Game of Thrones” due to nudity and violence.
Amy Liu, a 52-year-old retiree in the southwestern city of Chongqing, said she began using Renren Yingshi in 2005 to watch American action dramas like “Prison Break” and “24.” The former English major volunteered in 2013, working with half-a-dozen others to translate open-access online courses provided by Yale University.
The experience further deepened her understanding of American culture, said Ms. Liu, and hearing the group might be shut down left her feeling wistful. “They offered spiritual food amid all the censored and ideologically controlled programs on the official channels,” she said.
Renren Yingshi has found its way out of previous legal troubles, including in 2010 when police confiscated its server. Fans and former translators said they worry this time is different.
The latest investigation comes as the Chinese government is growing more serious about intellectual property theft. On Feb. 1, just days before the Shanghai police announced the detentions of 14 people affiliated with the group, China’s main political journal, Qiushi, published a speech by Mr. Xi emphasizing the importance of protecting intellectual property rights to encourage creativity and innovation.
For years, subtitling groups have used a legal provision in China that allows the distribution of copyrighted material for educational purposes. But over time, according to users and former translators, Renren Yingshi has appeared to increasingly operate like a business, requiring translators to study a 47-page handbook, hosting ads on its website and selling hard-drives loaded with subtitled content.
The Shanghai police notice said the arrested individuals were suspected of exploiting pirated material to earn more than 16 million yuan ($2.5 million) over an unspecified period from membership fees, advertising revenues and product sales. Translators received about 400 yuan ($62) for an episode or film, it said.
“Taking down Renren, the biggest and most influential [fan subtitling] group, sends a signal to other groups like them,” said Yu Meng, a legal expert and co-founder of the journal China Justice Observer.
Ms. Yu said she believed other, smaller fan subtitling groups would risk only civil and not criminal penalties as long as they run on a nonprofit basis and keep a low profile. Still, she said, the apparent closing of Renren Yingshi highlighted the hunger Chinese people have for content that official channels can’t satisfy.
Lance Zheng, a 31-year-old lawyer who first started using Renren to watch Manhattan rich teen drama “Gossip Girl” deep into the night, credited U.S. shows with broadening his horizons and said that Chinese viewers could make their own sound judgments when watching uncut foreign shows and movies.
“It’s not as if after watching U.S. drama series I look at the outside world and think the moon is fuller over there than at home,” he said.
Source: Wall Street Journal by Sha Hua