The idea of paying for movies and TV series was an alien concept when I was growing up in China at the beginning of the 21st century. For years, my friends and I watched Hollywood blockbusters, South Korean dramas and even French indie films free on obscure Chinese websites that provided downloadable high-definition videos with subtitles translated by enthusiastic Chinese fans.
It was only when I moved to Hong Kong to attend university in 2010 that I realized my teenage experience was regarded in the West as "piracy." It has taken another decade for Chinese authorities to come round to a similar view.
