Rough and often confusing, the translations cover the first four chapters of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and give brief outlines of the remaining 34. The amateur versions have been posted on popular electronic bulletin boards.

An official of People's Literature Publishing House, which has the series' publishing rights in China, said it had discussed the Internet versions with Bloomsbury Publishing, which has the international translation rights.

"We're worried it could affect our future sales. Even though the translations are poor, people might not bother buying the book if they already know the plot," said Zhang Jian, an assistant to the publisher's executive editor.

However, he said the Chinese company was powerless to intervene because it doesn't own the Internet publishing rights.

"This is a question of infringement of the rights of the writer, not the rights of the Chinese-language book publisher," Zhang said.

Chinese editions of J. K. Rowling's first four books about the boy wizard have sold millions of copies since their launch in October 2001, but the latest won't be available in Chinese until October. That apparently is too long to wait for Chinese fans of "Ha-li Bo-te," as he's called in China.

Harry Potter's popularity in China has already spawned pirated versions of the books and movies. An unknown Chinese author was said to have produced a fake adventure, Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon, which was attributed to Rowling.

(Eastday.com July 15, 2003)