China is too impatient to wait for Harry Potter translation

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Final Harry Potter book

The final Harry Potter book is still being translated into Chinese, but eager mainland Chinese fans have posted their own translations online, a move that could lead to counterfeit books in a country where piracy is rampant.

China's authorized publisher of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on Wednesday denounced the freelance translators and urged them to delete the translations.

Users of the Potter fan Web site called "International Wizards' Alliance" in Chinese have posted Chinese translations of several chapters of the new Potter book. Some chapters were restricted to registered users, but a reporter could access at least two chapters Wednesday without signing in.

But a notice on the Web site Wednesday said its "translation team" has been disbanded because of unspecified reasons.

A marketing executive at Beijing-based The People's Literature Publishing House, which holds the China rights to the Harry Potter series, said it has complained to authorities about the unofficial translations.

Sun Shunlin said, however, the publisher had no legal grounds to sue the unofficial translators, because it doesn't hold the electronic publication rights to the Potter books in China.