Chinese Language Youtube Channels - Recommendations Thread

[StChris]

There are more and more Chinese language Youtube channels popping up, covering a wide variety of interests and hobbies, and they make for a great learning resource. Here are a few of mine. Feel free to add your own.

 

General life in China Channels:

 

One of my new favourites is 小叔TV . His content consists of walking around various localities in China, with a focus on the more forgotten, left behind type places. While it doesn't sound too exciting, I really like to watch now that I'm not living in China anymore. He offers some interesting insights into Chinese society and economy, and it's interesting to see these normally unseen locales. You really get to see what everyday life is like for many (maybe most) Chinese people.

 

I discovered 当下频道DxChannel while researching an essay about 地摊经济 (the idea of jump starting the post lockdown economy by allowing people to set up little market stalls in the streets). In their video they tried to set up their own little stall in Shanghai to see how much they could make in a day. Most of their recent content is about young people trying to set up businesses, so I think it's quite an interesting insight into entrepreneurs trying to make it in China.

 

IC实验室 is a channel about marketing, the economy and society in general. They have some great videos about Chinese internet culture and how that relates to marketing. The first video of theirs I watched was this great one about 奋斗逼 (people who work themselves into the ground, with no benefit to themselves or their colleagues). Their video about 添狗 was an interesting insight into dating in China.

 

Gaming Channels:

 

I got into gaming (particularly retro gaming) channels a few years back, and decided to find some Chinese channels about the topic to turn it into a learning opportunity. Gamker is a good one, creating professional long-form reviews of the latest games (they just released their Cyberpunk one), and 小宁子 is always a relaxing watch, with more chilled game reviews. 老孙聊游戏 is probably my favourite though. Although ostensibly a retro gaming channel, he actually ends up covering the changes in Chinese society from the 80s to early 00s, as he talks about how he met his wife, how he set up a gaming shop, the development of his city etc.

 

TV/Movie Reviews and Retrospectives:

 

I have been able to watch and understand TV shows and films with no problem for a couple of years now, but always struggled to explain the plot or content of what I had watched to my teacher. I mean, I could do it in a simple way, but just not as articulate as I would have liked, so I started watching these kind of channels to fix that. These two mostly just take the mickey out of really bad Chinese dramas, but also feature the odd really good show now and again (I've discovered some really good TV shows as a result):

哇哇哇妹 (I like their end of year "worst of" awards)

开心嘴炮

 

These movie channels only really review ones that they like, and it's a good way of finding good potential movies, both modern and classic:

看电影了没

大聪看电影

越哥说电影

 

News:

 

For official Chinese government news I quite like新闻1+1 and 今日关注 (they normally focus on a single topic). When I need a break from the official party line, I check out these North American based news channels:

stone记

公子沈 (a little bit too anti-CCP in an axe-grindy kind of way, but a good balance to official news channels)

 

Misc:

 

I used this channel to learn Chinese cooking while in lockdown in China:

Chef Wang 美食作家王刚

 

李永乐老师 is fun education/lecture channel about economics. maths and science. He manages to get hundreds of thousands of views, despite the super low production values (basically just him in front of a blackboard), which is a testament to the quality of the teaching:

李永乐老师

 

True life crime channel:

X调查

 

Mr and Mrs Gao is a good one for Chinese learners, as the uploads generally consist of a husband explaining various topics and weird stories from around the world to his wife. They range from black hole theory to the lives of famous people, so you get a wide range of vocab. They consistently get millions of views an upload, so are one of the most popular Chinese channels on youtube:

Mr and Mrs Gao

 

Profiles of famous Chinese people:

Your Studio 有耳工作室

 

Everyday economics (ok, if you can get over the weird disguise the presenter always wears ? )

人人都该懂的经济学

 

逻辑思维 stopped uploading their philosophy/history podcast around three years back, but their library of 200 uploads is worth watching, if you're into that sort of thing:

逻辑思维

 

Good channel about computer programming (by a Chinese coder living in the US):

SchelleyYuki

 

This is the channel of the Beijing MMA fighter who likes to expose fake martial artists by challenging them to real fights (expect lots of profanity and beef):

徐晓冬北京格斗狂人

 

This is a channel that does a good job of explaining current affair topics, accompanied by some nice illustrations. Good for Chinese learners given the breadth and relevance of the subjects covered:

点点动画

 

Finally, I probably should include Papi酱. She's one of the biggest 网红 in China (or at least she was), and although she seems to have moved on to 抖音 now (hence the 60 sec videos), her older videos are still worth watching for their satire of modern Chinese life:

Papi酱

[889]

I sampled a lot of these and liked 小叔TV best. Interesting travelogues of a sort and a conversational delivery that's not hard on the ear. Shame though he has to bring up 留学生 flying in from Miami while discussing a Covid resurgence in Beijing earlier this year.

 

Many of the others use jumpy editing or a shouting/emotional formal narration that's hard to take for more than a minute, if that. Sort of like those busy, crowded Chinese websites with stuff flashing and floating across the screen.

[amytheorangutan]

Thank you so much for this list! ??
 

Does anyone have a list of interesting Taiwanese Youtuber? 
 

I’m into true crime, home and lifestyle, travel, books, possibly popular science kind of topics.

[Flickserve]

1 hour ago, amytheorangutan said:

lifestyle

 

This guy.

 

https://youtu.be/3o_89znEwuI

 

 

Dunno how he is still racking up so many views. He was funny for a few episodes. 

[StChris]

9 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

Dunno how he is still racking up so many views.

 

Looking at his thumbnails, two big reasons immediately jump out to me:

 

 

Not the most sophisticated tactic, but very effective. Actually, with both simultaneous English and Chinese subtitles, plus similar topics each video (increasing repetition of vocab), it might be a good channel for beginners/intermediate learners. 

[889]

My first impression, too!

 

That's a video you're meant to watch.

 

Yes, he does know how to rack up views . . .

[Dlezcano]

It is a very good idea making this thread. I hope you edit the first post in order to have everything together. Here is my contribution:

 

Life in China

Pangzai, a common Chinese guy who has a great ability drinking beer. His videos show natural daily language with English subtitles.

TreeMan, hidden camera channel to see people's reactions about things like a poor child looking at delicious foods.

 

Misc

 Ergeng, even though it focuses on foods and restaurants with history, you also can find many interesting stories like the one of a black baby who was adopted by a Chinese lady. Videos are shot with a vert good taste.

Yitiao, this must be some kind of sister channel of Ergeng, because they share some videos like the one of the black baby, but in this case it focuses in beautiful or special flats and buildings.

Maoxian Lei tanzhang, this is about a handsome Chinese guy who has been in almost any country in the world including Afghanistan. He tries to show some special things about the places he gets into, but his style could be regarded sometimes as controversial since he didn't respect the will of some people of not being filmed. Good for intermediate learners.

Miao Zhao jie, a cute Chinese housewife who teaches skills that range from opening a pomelo to poisoning cockroaches in your home.

 

Chinese Language

Whity chinese白白國文, a Taiwanese girl who explains interesting topics about Chinese language like gaokao tests, poems or differences between Taiwan and Mainland China speech. For advanced learners.

Chinese Zero To Hero, I haven't watched his channel too much but seems to be focused on explaining grammar and other HSK stuff.

 

History

 

Zuoyou shipin, some interesting facts that happened mainly in the last century. For intermediate to advanced learners.

 

[Tomsima]

This thread should be pinned on the homepage somewhere...it's like living in China when you can't go, phenomenal resource, thanks to everyone for sharing

[imron]

On 12/31/2020 at 6:30 PM, amytheorangutan said:

Does anyone have a list of interesting Taiwanese Youtuber? 

Not YouTube, but if you like podcasts, check out soundon. They have podcasts on a broad range of topics. I quite like 那些你不敢跟老闆說的事

[amytheorangutan]

On 1/2/2021 at 8:42 AM, imron said:

Not YouTube, but if you like podcasts, check out soundon. They have podcasts on a broad range of topics. I quite like 那些你不敢跟老闆說的事

Wow that’s amazing resource! Thanks so much. Some of them are right up my alley

?

 

I’m editing my comment because I didn’t realise how much stuff was on Sound On! This is amazing! I also like 那些你不敢跟老闆說的事. I listen to 打個電話給你 and 東京模樣 on apple podcast and there are so many more of similar genre on Sound On.

[carlo]

I sometimes watch 和之梦. About foreigners in China, but less scripted and more spontaneous than the ones state media used to run, and you can practice Mandarin and Japanese at the same time if that's your thing. It kind of makes me feel younger, especially in 2020.

 

There's probably a small market for channels on music theory, but I'll add some anyway. Wiwi Guan's NiceChord is one of the best on Youtube, regardless of language IMHO. Taiwanese guy, great teaching style, he'll have you tell your oboes from your clarinets in no time. 

 

Teacher Andy talks about classical composers. Learn drums with Jemi, though I don't think she's posting new content anymore.

[道艺]

Glad you posted chef Wang! He's awesome. Been learning a few dishes from him. I love how he addresses viewers as 同学们  ?

[StChris]

I forgot to list this channel earlier, but 大刘说说 is a good source of tech, financial and economic news and analysis. Here is his take on the recent EU-China investment treaty:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbkqPOOEu_k

[abcdefg]

Did I miss 李子柒 among your favorable mentions? 

 

Quote

Li Ziqi (Chinese: 李子柒; pinyin: Lǐ Zǐqī; born 6 July 1990), birth name Li Jiajia (Chinese: 李佳佳; pinyin: Lǐ Jiājiā)^[2] is a Chinese food and country-life blogger, entrepreneur, and internet celebrity.^[3] She is known for creating food and handicraft preparation videos in her hometown of rural Pingwu, Mianyang, Sichuan, often from basic ingredients and tools using traditional Chinese techniques.^[4][5][6][7] Her YouTube channel has more than 2 billion views.^[8]  

(From Wikipedia) 

[Balthazar]

Many good recommendations here.

 

哇萨比抓马 WasabiDrama is a channel I've been enjoying lately. It's a simple concept: Mostly plot summaries of film and TV-shows, with the majority of them being foreign (i.e. not Chinese) ones. There's a fairly good variety (not only Hollywood, but also South Korea, European and other cinemas) in the content covered, and since I've seen many of the films/series I find that I'm able to pick up a lot that I otherwise probably would not have understood (had a couple of "aha" moments where I figured out the meaning of a word by virtue of being familiar with the plot). The relatively short length (mostly <30 minutes) makes it very "small task" friendly.

 

It's also a great way to discover interesting (mostly contemporary) films you may not have heard about (but needless to say, stay away if you are afraid of spoilers).

 

Example 1

Example 2

 

Another channel I subscribe to is 思维改变命运 王魄. The content is mostly "pop psychology" (this phrase might come off as derogatory, but I don't know of a better one to describe this kind of content), where Wang Po discusses common issues and challenges that most can probably relate to (but also stuff like making friends when living abroad (she's a Chinese living in Canada)) through the lens of modern psychology. I'm not really into it for the content, but I find it easy to listen to and get something out of while being short enough to finish while doing small tasks. (She also has this grandmotherly aura that I find very comforting - perhaps I should ask her what this means in one of her live Q and A sessions )

 

Example 1

Example 2

[Luxi]

On 1/2/2021 at 10:06 AM, carlo said:

Teacher Andy talks about classical composers. 

 

Fantastic! I need classical music vocabulary, I'm always short of words and it's one of my fav conversation topics. Teacher Andy's Chinese is good! Obviously a musician's Chinese.

[Tomsima]

47 minutes ago, Luxi said:

Teacher Andy's Chinese is good! Obviously a musician's Chinese

So glad you pointed this out, I originally skimmed over this recommendation as I know nothing of music theory, just enjoy listening. You piqued my interest and I have now discovered Andy's channel to be an excellent recommendation - he speaks so naturally and with such care about the music; I've ended up sitting and learning lots about pieces I'd never really given any thought to, fantastic.

 

You've got to hand it to a guy who can play through Clair de lune and effortlessly turn around and quote Li Bai following its conclusion

 

[StChris]

Some nice recommendations here, with some good niche channels. One of the great things about youtube and other video platforms is the ability to find content for more non-mainstream interests. I'm old enough to remember the pre-internet days as a young kid, and it took a real effort to find anything niche.

 

Once this thread gets to 2 or 3 pages I'll edit the OP to summarise everyone's recommendations. Right now the thread is still short enough as to make that unnecessary.

 

Some more recommendations:

 

 

As someone who likes both travel and eating (who doesn't?), I should in theory really enjoy travel/eating channels. Unfortunately, in reality I find most of these channels annoying, as they are more often than not hosted by some loud, gurning presenter, who pretends that everything they eat is the most amazing thing in the world. So I was happy to discover a Chinese language travel/eating channel that I actually quite like:

 

阿星探店Chinese Food Tour 

 

Google must know that I used to live in Harbin, as it recommended this video he recently filmed in the city. Now I feel both hungry and homesick! He has videos from many different cities in China, and his channel is well worth a look.

 

 

Another channel (much closer to home this time) is the London-based:

 

英伦郭哥一家人

 

It's the channel of a Beijing man who married an English woman, and has lived in London ever since. His son sometimes makes an appearance too, often acting as a translator for his mother (who doesn't speak Chinese). I believe he was/is a musician, and he has some great stories about his life, both in England and in China. In this one he tells the story of how he took his wife back to China in the 80s, but wasn't allowed to sit in the same train carriage as her, with the 软卧s of the time being reserved for foreign guests and high-level party officials. He had to sit in the 硬座 section instead, and was told to stop bothering the foreign woman when he tried to eat with his wife in the restaurant car! This one is another favourite of mine, where he talks about how people in the comments were saying that he looks and sounds like the type of Beijing guy who fixes bicycles or sells baked sweet potatoes on the street, how did he marry a nice, well-off English girl? I like how he handles it with such modesty and humour, it's a good watch.

 

 

Lastly, I watched a fair few videos from this dating relationship channel a while back, and while the advice might not be very useful to anyone over the age of 21, it's still worth it for gaining dating/relationship related vocab::

 

SKIMMY 你的網路閨蜜  

 

Topics include how to spot a 渣男 or 渣女.

[Leslie Frank]

sorry for a bit of self-promo here. i did look at OP and other posts and found interesting links, some professionally done, some niche, and some just plain fun. mine are maybe geared for.. i dunno, those who like things explained ad nauseam, but i think it has its place, and i'm constantly changing (well, at least i can tell) to hopefully make 'em better, so in case you're open to explanations in english and interested in hearing canto and mando side-by-side, here's:

https://www.youtube.com/user/notnowigottago

 

(the nice thing about these videos, is that there are accompanying podcasts, so for those who like to hone their listening skills, it may be somewhat useful...)

[Dawei3]

I really like Mandarin Corner.  These are teaching videos.  However,  the creator, Eileen, uses real-life situations for her teaching.  She offers them with & without subtitles.  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2fAiRQHRQT9aj9P_ijYeow

 

In addition to offering good learning material, I find the content of her videos quite interesting.  Many involve interviewing people to get their candid perspectives of various issues.  In one, she gets views of Chinese men & women as to whether they would date a foreigner.   Others are on beauty standards and the feelings about "left-over women."  Others involve how foreigners are perceived.    

 

One particularly insightful one is "why you can't understand real Chinese conversations".  For this, she reviewed her previous videos and extracted out discussions with people speaking Mandarin with their local accent.  For each, she shows what they said versus standard Mandarin. I realized that in many cases, I would have had trouble understanding someone, without realizing why.  

 

Her videos are good for those with different levels of fluency.  Her "walk in a Chinese wet market" are good for low intermediates because she repeats similar phraseology multiple times (but in a way I find engaging).  

 

The creator of these videos, Eileen, said that it takes her 1 week to do a 1 hour video.  Considering the quality & depth of content of these videos, I think this is understandable.