Walk into any internet bar in China and you’re likely to find at least a third of the mostly under 30 crowd is there not to play video games or to chat on QQ, but to watch videos online – and no, not that kind of video either. They’re watching movies, TV series, and funny clips on a number of China’s sites that offer free high speed direct streaming of high quality, up to date (and often pirated) content from China and abroad. Here we’ll take a look at several of the most popular streaming venues and show you how to navigate them, even if you don’t read Chinese, so that soon you too will find even the much beloved 5RMB DVDs to be a thing of the past. Despite frequent crackdowns on content, the online Chinese video market is expanding and new sites are popping up all the time. The sites below are well-established and feature a lot of content that may be of interest, and accessible, to expats. With YouTube blocked, those without VPNs will find these sites especially useful. Warning: instant access to so many shows, movies and ridiculous videos may have a negative impact on your productivity and the amount of time you spend outside your apartment.

Youku 优酷
How it works: Simply type in the name, in English or Chinese, of the series or movie you’re looking for, into the search box at the top, or browse through the content by using the tabs at the top right which say 剧场 “TV series” 艺术 “art” and 视频 “videos” in Chinese. If you are searching for a series, you will see the words “季” and 集appearing often. Those characters mean “season” and “episode” respectively.

The good: Youku is China’s answer to YouTube, with millions of clips of everything from the newest episode of Lost to user-submitted footage of a beatdown that took place in the local park Friday afternoon. Youku’s streaming speed is usually lightning fast from within China and the service is generally reliable. There is an extremely large variety of shows on offer and the search function is quick and efficient. A quick search for “Survivor” turned up 18 complete seasons. For a foreigner, Youku works best if you know just what you’re looking for, as you’re unlikely to be interested in browsing through umpteen clips of Chinese talk shows or celebrity goof ups that you’re likely to stumble upon if you just meander through the content.

The bad: If you are searching for foreign shows, you will often find different versions uploaded by different users, and it can be tricky to figure out exactly which upload is the best. Sometimes you will have to try several different versions before you hit upon one that works. Youku is also best for watching shorter clips and TV episodes. While there are movies on Youku, they are often broken up into parts, as there is a limit to how long a Youku clip can be. It can be frustrating to begin watching a movie and have the flow interrupted by having to search for part 2, or worse, to have part 2 be broken or slow.

URL: www.youku.com

Xunlei 迅雷
How it works: Xunlei’s browse function is your best bet for finding content. Near the top of the page you will see the words 电影 “movie” 电视剧 “TV shows” 动漫 “cartoons” 综艺 “variety shows” and 大片 “big hits.” You’ll probably want to browse through the movies or the TV shows, so click on one of those. Once you are in TV or Movies you can choose if you want to watch foreign or local movies and shows. There is 欧美, which means European and American, 港台 which means Hong Kong and Taiwanese, and 内地 for Mainland Chinese offerings. Click on any one of these categories and make your pick. Beware of the words 预告片 on your movie selection – that means “preview” and you’ll be getting just the trailer and not the real deal.

The good: Xunlei has a wide variety of movies that are updated regularly, and the streaming is fairly reliable. TV series are updated fairly quickly and while there is a decent offering of recent American and British shows, Xunlei is probably better for movie watching than TV. If you don’t already have an idea of what you’d like to watch and want to just browse through the selections until something strikes your fancy, then Xunlei is one of your best bets. Xunlei has many interesting movies on offer that might not be on your radar.

The bad: Xunlei’s speeds can sometimes be inexplicably slow, and some of the movies don’t work. Xunlei also requires users to download Xunlei software, a download device which gives users faster download speeds and can also be used as a bit torrent client. While Xunlei won’t infect your computer with viruses, it eats up bandwidth simply by running and is best turned off when not watching video on Xunlei. Xunlei ads will appear in the right-hand corner of your screen when you’re using it. Like most Chinese software, the Xunlei client does not run on Apple computers.

URL: www.xunlei.com

QQ Live
How it works: QQ Live requires you to download a QQ Live Player, and from that player you can directly select what you want to watch. It offers direct streaming of certain Chinese TV stations and sports like NBA basketball. After downloading it, choose from the same categories as you would with Xunlei “Movies,” “TV” etc.

The Good: QQ Live is extremely stable. The speed is fast and rarely is there a problem with missing content or lag. The video quality is also quite good. QQ Player has a good variety of TV series. The foreign shows include most of the popular shows and are usually up to date within a few episodes. For a standalone device, QQ player is also surprisingly gentle on your bandwidth. It downloads what it needs and then it is done, unlike Xunlei which sits in the background eating your bandwidth and slowing down any computers in your network.

The Bad: QQ Live’s movie selection is a bit limited. Also, as with any QQ software, download with caution and only from a legitimate source like the official QQ website. Clicking on outside links to download QQ software could be risky.

URL: http://live.qq.com/

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