CHINA — As American webmasters who specialize in adult fare wonder what their government has in store for them, nine organizers and founders of a wildly popular Chinese website called “Pornographic Summer” have more than phantom fears to combat.Chen Hui and eight others who contributed to the “Qing Se Liu Yue Tian” website are looking at sentences that are stiff — and nothing to laugh about.

Tried on August 29th and 30th, reports from Eastday.com indicate that Chen is likely facing life in prison, while his associates are dealing with comparatively less horrible fates of only three to 10 years behind bars.

When Chen and his collaborators were apprehended, more than 600,000 members were registered with the site, which is believed to be China’s most popular adult web presence. It offered its subscribers 44,812 photos and 125 videos for about $25 – $30 per year or $85 – $500 for a life-time membership.

Not only subscribers but also advertisers were attracted to the site, which is believed to have made $125 – $375 per month in revenue.

In an attempt to avoid conflict with the Chinese authorities, the site had been hosted overseas and its domain, servers, and IP address were frequently changed.

Shanxi Province’s Taiyuan Intermediate People’s Court is expected to announce its final ruling in October.