Online translation communities in China, a brief overview

From Chuan Yu’s Online Translation Communities in Chinese Cyberspace [we’ve added screenshots of the sites mentioned for extra context]:

Since the arrival of the Internet about 30 years ago, the practice of translation has also moved online. A number of online translation communities have been established for various purposes. In general, there are two types: audio-visual and text-oriented translation communities. The former they can be further classified into two categories: fansubbing groups formed mainly for entertainment (for example, Zimuzu and TLF)…

…and groups that translate open courses for educational purposes (for example, Sina and NETEASE’s open course channels).

The translated content in the latter communities is highly textual, but features and purposes vary. There are communities which focus on sharing training materials on translation practice and information on freelance translation opportunities such as Yiwang (译网) and Fanyi Zhongguo (翻译中国).

There are others that resemble both a BBS forum and a learning community like Longtengwang (龙腾网) or Yeeyan (译言).

Others are socio-politically oriented and present themselves not only as translation communities but more profoundly as media platforms, where different voices on international politics, humanities and societies can be heard. Unfortunately, the last group of online translation communities often struggles to survive and most of these them die behind the Great Firewall (for example, Cenci Journalism Project 参差计划).

Read Chuan Yu’s original post for more information about Yeeyan and its evolution after it was shut down by the government in 2009.

June 8, 2016 update from Chuan Yu: two-thirds of Yeeyan’s community features have been disabled again.