Where to Watch Chinese Dramas & TV Shows
Find reliable places to watch Chinese dramas and TV shows online, including streaming services, China-based platforms, YouTube channels, and live TV. Options include free and paid services, with many accessible in the U.S. Watching Chinese entertainment is also a fun way to strengthen your listening skills, learn everyday vocabulary, and hear natural Chinese.
What Is a VPN?
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) makes it appear that you’re browsing from another location. Some Chinese streaming services restrict access by region, so a VPN may be needed.
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Find Your Next Watch
Despite its name and focus on dramas, MyDramaList covers much more than just dramas. Its extensive database includes Asian TV shows, movies, and a large selection of reality and variety series.
This community-driven resource lets you browse ratings and reviews, create and track your own watchlists, join discussions, and connect with other fans. One of its most useful features is its recommendations. You can look up a show you loved and find suggestions for similar titles, making it much easier to decide what to watch next.
FreeDrama Streaming Platforms - ✓ U.S. Access
Amazon has been very aggressive in building its library of Asian offerings. Annual fee includes free 2 day shipping on many items.
Fee
"AsianCrush is the premier Asian streaming service for movies, TV shows, and web videos online." - AsiansCrush. No ads and access to more content with monthly fee.
Free With Ads / Paid
Crunchyroll is primarily geared toward anime, but does offer Chinese shows and dramas with English subtitles. No ads and access to more content with monthly fee.
Free With Ads / Paid
Asian content is more lacking than Viki, Netflix and Amazon, but if you already subscribe you can check out its offerings. Hulu often has titles the big three do not.
Fee
**iQIYI International** offers a large selection of Chinese dramas, movies, variety shows, anime, and other Asian entertainment for viewers around the world. Many programs include English and other multilingual subtitles.
Free With Ads / Paid
MangoTV International offers Chinese dramas, variety shows, reality programs, movies, and other entertainment to viewers around the world. English subtitles are offered for many programs. An international MangoTV app is also available for mobile viewing.
Free / Paid
Netflix offers a wide selection of Chinese-language movies, dramas, and other programs, many with Chinese and English subtitles. For language practice, Language Reactor can add dual subtitles so you can view Chinese and English at the same time. Find it on our Chrome Extensions resource page.
Free
While its Chinese content is very limited, it may be worth a look if you exhausted all other free choices on this list.
Free With Ads
Viki, a play on the words video and wiki, is well-known for its primetime shows and movies available with subtitles in many languages. No ads and access to more content with monthly fee.
Free With Ads / Paid
WeTV is the international streaming service of Tencent Video, one of China’s largest video platforms. It offers a wide selection of Chinese dramas, variety shows, movies, and other Asian entertainment, with English and multilingual subtitles available for many titles. U.S. users should be aware that the branding can be a little confusing: the service is known internationally as "WeTV," but its U.S. app is branded "Tencent Video". U.S. viewers can subscribe through the Tencent Video app to access VIP content and additional features.
Free / Paid
YOUKU International is the global version of one of China’s largest streaming platforms, offering Chinese dramas, movies, variety shows, and other entertainment to viewers outside Mainland China. Many programs include English and other multilingual subtitles, making it especially accessible to international C-drama fans.
Free Episodes / PaidChinese Drama YouTube Channels
Not all content includes English subtitles. If you need them, try searching “Eng” in the channel’s search box to quickly find videos with English subtitles.
Offers some content with English Subtitles
Over 2.6m Subs!
Chinese TV & Variety YouTube Channels
Not all content includes English subtitles. If you need them, try searching “Eng” in the channel’s search box to quickly find videos with English subtitles.
Documentaries, culture, travel, food, entertainment, news and general television.
Over 6.9m Subs!
Variety, reality, music, celebrity, travel and entertainment programs.
Over 5.5m Subs!
Music competitions, performances and entertainment/variety programming.
Over 1m Subs!China-Based Streaming Platforms
Many Chinese streaming platforms are restricted to users in mainland China. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) can make it appear that you’re browsing from another location, allowing you to access services that may otherwise be unavailable in your country. When a VPN is needed, you’ll typically need to connect to a server in China (via Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.).
CCTV is the National Chinese Television Network. You can find many TV shows and Chinese news on their website.
iQiYi is one of the largest online video sites in the world. There you can find a plethora of Chinese entertainment here, including films, TV series, variety shows, web movies, trailers, talk shows, anime, music, fashion, finance & much more! There is an international version also available.
Here you can find TV series, movies, variety shows, anime, documentaries and more all geared toward children.
Le 电视剧 (Diànshìjù) which means “Le TV Series,” is a popular Chinese streaming website. It provides a seemingly endless amount movies, dramas and shows to choose from.
MangoTV (芒果TV) offers Chinese dramas, variety shows, reality programs, movies, and other entertainment.
PPTV offers current Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese movies and dramas. Some titles require a membership fee.
Here you will find animated movies, overseas classics (like Peppa Pig) Chinese nursery rhymes, puzzles and more all geared toward children.
Here you can find many popular movies and drams from China and Taiwan. There are also children’s programs, anime, trailers, variety shows, physical educations, American movies, music, documentaries and much more!
Tudou is a Chinese video sharing platform. It actually owns many Chinese movies, dramas and variety shows. All these are available to watch and/or download. Youku and Tudou merged, so you may find similar content on Youku.
Watch the latest movies, TV dramas, variety shows, animation, sports, documentaries and more.
Xiaodu has a large library of current dramas, movies, cartoons and TV shows. The former Baidu TV redirects to this website.
YouKu is a Chinese video hosting service based in Beijing, China. Youku and Tudou merged, so you may find similar content on Tudou. There is an international version also available.
Here you will find animated movies, overseas classics (like Peppa Pig) Chinese nursery rhymes, and more all geared toward children.
Chinese TV Shows YouTube Channels
All of these channels offer some content with English subtitles. TIP: Use the channel’s search box to search Eng.
Documentaries, culture, travel, food, entertainment, news and general television.
Over 6.9m Subs! Variety, reality, music, celebrity, travel and entertainment programs.
Over 5.5m Subs! Music competitions, performances and entertainment/variety programming.
Over 1m Subs!Chinese Live TV - ✓ U.S. Access
No VPN Needed: The live TV option below can be accessed from the United States without a VPN.
Here, you can access the live broadcast of CCTV, China's National Television Network, and explore 20 different channels. If you're watching on a computer, simply switch channels using the buttons on the right side of the video player.
Free Web-Based
Famelack.tv lets you browse thousands of publicly available TV and radio streams from around the world using an interactive 3D globe or country lists. No account is required, and the site is ad-free. Mandarin-language content is available from mainland China and Taiwan, along with regions and countries where Mandarin is widely spoken, including Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Free Web-Based