Found in translation

Many young Chinese netizens are used to watching TV dramas from the US and the United Kingdom on the Internet, and some have begun to seek out more diverse English-language content on weibo, such as talk shows, stand-up comedies, sketch comedies and debates in the English parliament.

Li is not alone in translating and sharing this sort of content on weibo.

Guan Xin is a senior member of the community, boasting 100,000 followers. The 30-year-old English teacher in Northeast China started sharing English-language content when he translated footage of question time in the UK parliament to use as teaching materials, and was startled when it was shared 20,000 times on weibo.

"When someone commented 'I never knew things worked like this in that country', I was very pleased," he says.

Some clips of the UK parliament he shared on weibo attracted more hits than the same clips posted on YouTube.

In 2012, he translated and shared many clips about the US presidential election, and had a rapid rise in the number of followers.

He attributed the popularity to a growing need among Chinese young people to learn about the outside world.

"Young people are no longer satisfied with only what they've been told," he says. "They would rather look at more sides to draw a fuller picture."

Selection of this content takes some skill. According to Michael Gu, another hobby translator who has 1 million followers on weibo, content that is "politically incorrect" is risky.

"Widely known taboos we will usually avoid, for example, anything teasing Chinese people or leaders," he says. "And personally I do not like sharing things too sexual or racist."

Gu mainly shares talk shows and short skits about US politics. During the 2012 election, he translated some US politicians' names into funny Chinese ones, which sound similar but had humorous meanings.

For example, he translated Mitt Romney as Mi Rongni, literally mashed rice and lotus seeds, two kinds of common stuffing in Chinese mooncakes. He was even told by some netizens that they had become so familiar with his translation that they found the official translated names on the television news unrecognizable.