BARELY three days after the final installment of the “Harry Potter” series “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” hit the international market July 21, the book’s Chinese translations appeared online.

At least three groups of volunteers were found to have translated the book and posted the translations online for free. The most influential group calls itself the International Witches and Wizards Association, and is apparently led by a 15-year-old boy only known by his nickname Wizard Harry.

People’s Literature Publishing House, the company authorized to translate the book into Chinese, has said the spread of unauthorized translations would adversely affect the sales of the official translation, which is not due out until October.

Wizard Harry is one of the many Harry Potter fanatics in China. In an interview with the China Youth Daily, the 15-year-old high school student said that he had read all the seven books of the “Potter” series, and was familiar with every detail.

He claimed that he had organized the translation drive merely to help the Chinese Potter fans who don’t understand English read the book as soon as possible.

Just before “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was about to hit the market, Wizard Harry invited members of the International Witches and Wizards Association to translate the book.

A team of about eight numbers was soon formed, some of who were students of foreign language schools.

Wizard Harry had planned for the translation process to be completed within 10 days. But it happened much quicker than he expected. Three days after the team started, the Chinese translation of all the 36 chapters appeared on the Web site of the association.

The work was done meticulously, Wizard Harry said. Each chapter was proof-read three times before being posted. The translators had little sleep during the three days, and survived on instant noodles.

“I did not expect to complete the translation so quickly,” said Wizard Harry, who was satisfied with the response from the readers.

He said he and other translators did not expect money or any other benefit and private interest. “For a loyal Harry fan, any idea of getting profit (from the translation) is the blasphemy of Harry Potter,” he said.

Another team called Harry Potter Online Translation Team posted its own translation on the Web site of the popular search engine Baidu, and a third team called Harry Potter Fans Club posted the translation on www.douban.com.

The unauthorized translations have dealt a heavy blow to the People’s Literature Publishing House, which had planned to sell 1 million copies of the Chinese version in the first print run.

Kong Qingde, a lawyer with Shanghai Shenda law firm, said the unauthorized translations breached the rights of the copyright owner. “It equals piracy,” said Kong.

Wizard Harry, however, said he did not know the translation had violated the law. He agreed to remove the translations from his Web site after being warned by the publishing company.

Sun Shunlin, director of the planning department of the People’s Literature Publishing House, said suing the online translators would not be fruitful, as the contract signed between the publishing house and the writer did not include restrictions on online translation.

“We hope the Web supervisors to interfere,” he said.

Sun recalled how volunteers had put out unauthorized translations of the previous installment of the “Harry Potter” series two years ago. Most of the translations, according to him, were “full of mistakes, omitted large parts of the original, and affected the readers’ understanding of the original.”

However, he said he was more worried that some publishing houses might print the unauthorized translations of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and sell them for money.

Even though Wizard Harry and his followers did not translate “for profit,” they made it more convenient for pirates, said Sun. By printing out the online translations, pirates could publish unauthorized Chinese versions of “Harry Potter” very easily, he said.

A week after the original “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released July 21, a book claimed to be the Chinese version of the original was being sold in Shanghai for eight yuan (US$1) a copy.

The sellers claimed that they got the books from “secret channels” in Britain. It turned out that the book had little to do with the original, except for the title and names of the characters.

BARELY three days after the final installment of the “Harry Potter” series “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” hit the international market July 21, the book’s Chinese translations appeared online.

At least three groups of volunteers were found to have translated the book and posted the translations online for free. The most influential group calls itself the International Witches and Wizards Association, and is apparently led by a 15-year-old boy only known by his nickname Wizard Harry.

People’s Literature Publishing House, the company authorized to translate the book into Chinese, has said the spread of unauthorized translations would adversely affect the sales of the official translation, which is not due out until October.

Wizard Harry is one of the many Harry Potter fanatics in China. In an interview with the China Youth Daily, the 15-year-old high school student said that he had read all the seven books of the “Potter” series, and was familiar with every detail.

He claimed that he had organized the translation drive merely to help the Chinese Potter fans who don’t understand English read the book as soon as possible.

Just before “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was about to hit the market, Wizard Harry invited members of the International Witches and Wizards Association to translate the book.

A team of about eight numbers was soon formed, some of who were students of foreign language schools.

Wizard Harry had planned for the translation process to be completed within 10 days. But it happened much quicker than he expected. Three days after the team started, the Chinese translation of all the 36 chapters appeared on the Web site of the association.

The work was done meticulously, Wizard Harry said. Each chapter was proof-read three times before being posted. The translators had little sleep during the three days, and survived on instant noodles.

“I did not expect to complete the translation so quickly,” said Wizard Harry, who was satisfied with the response from the readers.

He said he and other translators did not expect money or any other benefit and private interest. “For a loyal Harry fan, any idea of getting profit (from the translation) is the blasphemy of Harry Potter,” he said.

Another team called Harry Potter Online Translation Team posted its own translation on the Web site of the popular search engine Baidu, and a third team called Harry Potter Fans Club posted the translation on www.douban.com.

The unauthorized translations have dealt a heavy blow to the People’s Literature Publishing House, which had planned to sell 1 million copies of the Chinese version in the first print run.

Kong Qingde, a lawyer with Shanghai Shenda law firm, said the unauthorized translations breached the rights of the copyright owner. “It equals piracy,” said Kong.

Wizard Harry, however, said he did not know the translation had violated the law. He agreed to remove the translations from his Web site after being warned by the publishing company.

Sun Shunlin, director of the planning department of the People’s Literature Publishing House, said suing the online translators would not be fruitful, as the contract signed between the publishing house and the writer did not include restrictions on online translation.

“We hope the Web supervisors to interfere,” he said.

Sun recalled how volunteers had put out unauthorized translations of the previous installment of the “Harry Potter” series two years ago. Most of the translations, according to him, were “full of mistakes, omitted large parts of the original, and affected the readers’ understanding of the original.”

However, he said he was more worried that some publishing houses might print the unauthorized translations of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and sell them for money.

Even though Wizard Harry and his followers did not translate “for profit,” they made it more convenient for pirates, said Sun. By printing out the online translations, pirates could publish unauthorized Chinese versions of “Harry Potter” very easily, he said.

A week after the original “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released July 21, a book claimed to be the Chinese version of the original was being sold in Shanghai for eight yuan (US$1) a copy.

The sellers claimed that they got the books from “secret channels” in Britain. It turned out that the book had little to do with the original, except for the title and names of the characters.

BARELY three days after the final installment of the “Harry Potter” series “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” hit the international market July 21, the book’s Chinese translations appeared online.

At least three groups of volunteers were found to have translated the book and posted the translations online for free. The most influential group calls itself the International Witches and Wizards Association, and is apparently led by a 15-year-old boy only known by his nickname Wizard Harry.

People’s Literature Publishing House, the company authorized to translate the book into Chinese, has said the spread of unauthorized translations would adversely affect the sales of the official translation, which is not due out until October.

Wizard Harry is one of the many Harry Potter fanatics in China. In an interview with the China Youth Daily, the 15-year-old high school student said that he had read all the seven books of the “Potter” series, and was familiar with every detail.

He claimed that he had organized the translation drive merely to help the Chinese Potter fans who don’t understand English read the book as soon as possible.

Just before “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was about to hit the market, Wizard Harry invited members of the International Witches and Wizards Association to translate the book.

A team of about eight numbers was soon formed, some of who were students of foreign language schools.

Wizard Harry had planned for the translation process to be completed within 10 days. But it happened much quicker than he expected. Three days after the team started, the Chinese translation of all the 36 chapters appeared on the Web site of the association.

The work was done meticulously, Wizard Harry said. Each chapter was proof-read three times before being posted. The translators had little sleep during the three days, and survived on instant noodles.

“I did not expect to complete the translation so quickly,” said Wizard Harry, who was satisfied with the response from the readers.

He said he and other translators did not expect money or any other benefit and private interest. “For a loyal Harry fan, any idea of getting profit (from the translation) is the blasphemy of Harry Potter,” he said.

Another team called Harry Potter Online Translation Team posted its own translation on the Web site of the popular search engine Baidu, and a third team called Harry Potter Fans Club posted the translation on www.douban.com.

The unauthorized translations have dealt a heavy blow to the People’s Literature Publishing House, which had planned to sell 1 million copies of the Chinese version in the first print run.

Kong Qingde, a lawyer with Shanghai Shenda law firm, said the unauthorized translations breached the rights of the copyright owner. “It equals piracy,” said Kong.

Wizard Harry, however, said he did not know the translation had violated the law. He agreed to remove the translations from his Web site after being warned by the publishing company.

Sun Shunlin, director of the planning department of the People’s Literature Publishing House, said suing the online translators would not be fruitful, as the contract signed between the publishing house and the writer did not include restrictions on online translation.

“We hope the Web supervisors to interfere,” he said.

Sun recalled how volunteers had put out unauthorized translations of the previous installment of the “Harry Potter” series two years ago. Most of the translations, according to him, were “full of mistakes, omitted large parts of the original, and affected the readers’ understanding of the original.”

However, he said he was more worried that some publishing houses might print the unauthorized translations of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and sell them for money.

Even though Wizard Harry and his followers did not translate “for profit,” they made it more convenient for pirates, said Sun. By printing out the online translations, pirates could publish unauthorized Chinese versions of “Harry Potter” very easily, he said.

A week after the original “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released July 21, a book claimed to be the Chinese version of the original was being sold in Shanghai for eight yuan (US$1) a copy.

The sellers claimed that they got the books from “secret channels” in Britain. It turned out that the book had little to do with the original, except for the title and names of the characters.