Chinese Literati Crowdsource Translation of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol
September 30, 2009 from psfk.

In a fascinating illustration of crowdsourcing (and piracy) in China, Yeeyan, a collaborative translation website, has posted the prologue and first two chapters of The Lost Symbol. The goal: organize Chinese netizens to produce a Chinese version before its official 2010 release by the People’s Literature Publishing House.
This is not the first example of Chinese appetite for blockbuster media resulting in crowdsourcing — enthusiasts have previously translated Harry Potter books and they regularly craft subtitles for popular Western TV shows.

While piracy is an issue (Yeeyan was positioned to profit) the bigger issue is Chinese demand for global products and how global companies engage that demand to create lasting relationships with Chinese consumers. There is a lucrative opportunity for the next company bringing a global product into China to create an innovative and memorable experience around its product in a way that Random House did not.