China cracks down on unofficial fan groups who subtitle hit American TV shows

It was a feat of shrewd initiative, exacting standards and streamlined efficiency that won millions of Chinese fans for Francis Underwood, the scheming politician played by Kevin Spacey in the hit US drama House of Cards.

Within just two hours of the February 14 release of the show's second season on Netflix, a pirated version of the first episode was available as a free download for Chinese viewers.

But this was no run-of-the-mill pirate video. Thanks to a highly organised group of volunteers belonging to a "fansub" or fan-made subtitles group on the mainland, this version included Chinese translations that rendered Frank's pearls of political wisdom comprehensible even to viewers who lacked the ability to decipher his trademark southern drawl.

"If the drama is really popular, our members in the States will start sorting out the English subtitles while the new episode is still streaming, and send them to the English-to-Chinese translators when the closing credits start rolling," Queenie Zhang, a fansub volunteer, said.

Zhang is one of the thousands of unpaid translators helping to bring foreign television shows and films to millions of Chinese viewers who would otherwise struggle to comprehend the programmes. Yet their future is in jeopardy as they become the latest target in a crackdown on online piracy by the mainland's media watchdog.