Hi Everybody.
I`m considering subscribing to some apps to watch Chinese dramas and movies in the event online streaming websites don`t work/go down for whatever reason...
I know Iqiyi, Tencent (Wetv) and Youku have the international version of their apps for users that are not in China....but I`m based in Japan and apparently many/most of the Chinese content becomes restricted here.
I read online that in this case it might be useful to use a VPN, but I have no experience at all with them...do you also use VPNs to watch the Chinese content of these apps?
If anybody has advices, suggestions or useful info on this topic, I will be eternally grateful! If there are any users in Japan, raise your voices! But seriously any info will be appreciated ^^
First things first: streaming largely depends on your browser. Always use desktop mode, and for privacy and safety, you should already be using a properly private browser that doesn’t store, let alone sell, your data ie Brave, Firefox, Orion for iPhone/ipad, kiwi for android. I don’t have all of them (once one works that I trust, I stick with it unless it breaks), but see what will function on your device.
What device are you using to watch? Solid, SAFE, free options include Windscribe and Proton, or my iPad came with VPN Super Unlimited Proxy by Mobile Jump that has an Android version I can’t attest to, but the one already installed when I got this is pretty solid and free: https://www.vpnsuper.com/ Just beware of versions that look the same (ie same key logo but a diff color) or have a name like theirs, hence me linking to it, but are from different companies)—with your data coming and going through it, you need to choose a safe one since many apps, and I don’t just mean VPNs but many in general, make their profits by selling data stolen from your device when you give them access.
Which VPNs are accessible in Japan will vary a bit.
THAT SAID, I tested a Japan-specific sim card that does have restrictions for quite a bit of site content, and with my iPad’s VPN set to Singapore (I watch a lot on Viu so that is my default country) I could watch iQiyi and WeTV shows straight from the site, no app needed. It does say the app is needed for other languages, but English worked fine on two random shows I clicked with both Firefox and Orion in desktop mode when I switched to SIM card data, WiFi turned off completely. It was just slower, naturally, than WiFi. Again, that’s with a Japanese SIM card and my VPN… and DESKTOP mode as otherwise they trigger app downloads I prefer not to use if ever possible for security/privacy reasons and simply to not use my device space for apps I can use websites for instead (I also get far fewer ads on my browser😉).
I can’t be sure whether it will function for your device, but try those out. Plenty of VPNs are “free” because they are ripping and using data in ways you don’t want. The ones I have used are well-trusted and rely on subscriptions from people who use it for far far more data, often business-level, than you or I, or the server nations and choices are more limited (some countries simply cost more to route through!). Speed is also impacted, naturally. If you find one working but a bit sluggish, try out a paid version trial if offered to see if that would be an option or try another out (sometimes I land on a busy or just slower server, so try a few out).
I hope that is helpful! In general, your phone will be less able to access things than many tablets, a tablet less, still, than a computer (be it a laptop or chunky tower). At least when at home or able to use a hotspot for my Internet service provider, I avoid using the SIM card data bc it is slower and many apps indeed don't work if they detect I am in Japan—mobile data has some restrictions that are a nuisance to work around compared to wifi (and mobile data bounces around from tower to tower where I live, too, breaking then reloading then locking me out at times the vpn has to reconnect when the signal is lost, a pain). Hopefully your WiFi isn’t overly restrictive.
(Edited to add info.)
Hi!
Thank you for your reply and for all the detailed information! I can`t believe you took the time to write all that for a complete stranger! Really appreciated <3
Actually up until now I have only used online streaming websites like kisxxx....one reason is that I have always thought that Chinese platforms like Iqiyi, Tencent etc. were not working in Japan (for sporadic Kdramas I had Netflix)...the other is that I`m a Millennial of the Torrent and streaming generation lol
Sometimes those kind of streaming sites are wiped off/shut down, so I thought to prepare in advance and be able to subscribe to some Cplatforms (as I almost only watch Cdramas now).
I basically only use my laptop (browse is Chrome) to watch....for exceptional circumstances only I use my Android smartphone. At home I have wi-fi internet, for outside the Japanese smartphone connection (in Japan the smartphone+its sim+internet connection provider are a set and cannot be separated). In some cases, when travelling, I use hotels/airports connections.
Never used a VPN in my life, have 0 knowledge, nobody to ask about it and some fear of installing/using things screwing up my pc, my web accounts and my credit card account.
This is the whole situation more or less...is there hope for me??
Get away from Chrome is my first advice-Google collects and stores your data and might have to hand it over which can become a major pain; your ISP can also, as they always have your IP address no matter how many layers of masking you go through, punish you If studios etc demand it (losing Internet service for a few months is definitely an incentive to never download especially, streaming less punished than downloads that prove you stole a copy of it versus accessing someone else’s copy)…
Especially since you occasionally use those kissxx sites (don't we all?), find either Brave or Firefox and start there… an Ad blocker like Ublock origin with the default filters and enhanced tracking protection turned on in settings will make most all sites better to use but especially those. Like I said, windscribe and proton are your friends. They have different kinds of limits on data for the free version, but the free suits most who are on MDL. Just stream, never download, or you could get nasty punishments, Japan pretty harsh compared to relatively poorer nations.
Were I coming in as a new to both user, since you’ll have a learning curve, I would probably pick Brave at this point (only bc Firefox has some funding from Google which hasn’t yet involved any data being stored let alone sold and which I don’t have too much worry about as I’ve used FF for decades now with no issues… but you never quite know)… I still use FF as my primary because it has never done me wrong aside from a few interface changes making me have to, like with any software update, catch up to modernization or whatever they want to call it. It also lets me sync any data I choose to across devices which is super handy when upgrading any given one as my phones have been different OSs from my tablets and those different from my PCs, naturally, so having the option to log in with a Ff account and import all my bookmarks, have passwords update across all my devices when one is changed, etc, is a godsend as someone on the web a couple of full lifetimes of a millennial lol. 🦕
The two free, secure VPNs I mentioned that I know work on laptops:
https://windscribe.com/features/use-for-free/
https://protonvpn.com/free-vpn
No credit card info taken is always a win! :)
Once you have a properly “private” browser (ie they don’t store your data which could be sold or hacked into in the future… your ISP will have all your site activity even with a von since it goes through them, hence my insistence to stream only, not download), look at the two main VPNs linked above and browse the nations. The US typically gets access to the catalogs of iqiyi and wetv at least, never watched Youku that I know of unless on YT maybe… (the sites you see are different from mainland China ones fwiw; ppl in mainland China will not see, for instance, shows with gay romance; services have to split their PRC serving sites and their global ones, dumb as their greatest of great walls is to me).
Torrents have become traps all too often; that is exactly how friends of mine got in trouble, networks planting fully legit episodes and taking legal action on those downloading them through their perfect looking, everyday fan-resembling accounts. Since what they upload IS legit, they appear to be trustworthy for the services that have trust ratings… only to later bite back.
✌️
I used to love and use Firefox back in the days, but for some reasons it suddenly became very slow and hard to use...I don`t know what the cause was, so I just switched to Chrome.
Since I witnessed live (as a good Millennial 🦕 are you too by the way??) the annihilation of PirateBay and all the problems related to Torrent usage, I haven`t been downloading anything for the past 10 years or more...so that shouldn`t be a problem. Good thing I`m not interested anymore in hoarding and storing files like I used to do back then lol
Thank you for all the advice and info! When the time comes I will definitely start with and try first the VPNs you suggested! Also maybe an AD blocker because all the clicks to close the ads are very annoying (and currently my pc doesn`t have any antivirus, just a basic-expired McAfee that came as a set with the hardware...).
Firefox certainly had a spell of being sluggish, especially on desktop, from my memory largely when scripts were changing (video pre-YT, games built into sites that haven’t worked for a good 10 years or more now) rapidly and old legacy coding was dragging it as they tried to accommodate the vast amount of global sites that were not updating their coding fast enough as adobe and other companies phased out different parts of their business and security became more critical. I had to switch antivirus programs back then because that was ultimately what killed the speed and made things horrific. Once I swapped antivirus programs (I was free labor for an early era ISP in the early 90s during breaks from my long decade of uni if that gives a timestamp on my actual relative Dino 🦕 status lol.) McAfee was, fwiw, what broke Ff the worst. Norton was far better at the time. Now there are plenty of free options that have the full intent of protecting all computers, even for free, so their business customers don’t have family members accidentally infect a whole network of work machines. Now my gadgets are more mobile and come with virus protection built in (good browsers don’t need excessive added software, just things to prevent weird scripts from actually running which is a basic setting that turning on basic protections built in will tend to).
That has since been resolved, the sites of old long since having big blank boxes or x‘s where things used to run. There is a lighter version of FF that doesn’t have all the same features but suits users who don’t do much beyond accessing basic sites which streaming from sites counts as (versus games, anything interactive beyond comments like streaming uploads or zoom calls etc). Brave is very solid, too, though. I don’t care if Google knows what I like, but I’d rather them not know every site I go to as well as everything in some of my inboxes, mostly junk and public suitable photos shared for what I use Google drives for, the rest more private. Pretty sure Avast is what all my home laptops and older desktop have on them—once my business licenses expired, I switched and am pretty sure I never looked back. :) I’ve used AVG on some (others’ I’ve repaired or helped set up software for lol) too, and it isn’t bad, Microsoft Bitdefender also a basic free tool if running a windows machine.
