How Chinese developers are getting access to foreign AI models
What's the story
A thriving gray market of API relay platforms is enabling Chinese developers to bypass restrictions and access top-tier foreign artificial intelligence (AI) models. These include Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini, which are officially unavailable in the country. The platforms work by routing access through proxy servers located outside mainland China, making them a popular choice among developers for tasks like coding, debugging, and image generation.
Market promotion
Relay providers advertise on popular online marketplaces
Chinese online marketplaces Taobao and Xianyu are full of relay providers promoting access to Claude Opus, unlimited Claude Code subscriptions, and 1:1 official models without capability reduction. Most sellers promise one-million-token context windows, domestic network access without VPNs, and compatibility with tools like Cursor, VSCode, and OpenClaw. This shows how these platforms are becoming a go-to solution for developers in China.
Seller offerings
One seller has completed over 2,200 orders
One high-volume seller on Xianyu, who has completed over 2,200 orders, is offering "low-latency, no-VPN" access to the full Claude 3.5 suite. The online listings for Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini access are common across marketplaces. This trend highlights how these platforms are being used by developers in China to gain access to restricted AI models for their work.