Even though AI models like Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini are not officially available in China, local developers are still finding ways to use them. According to a report by South China Morning Post, a growing grey market of so-called 'shadow APIs' is helping Chinese users bypass restrictions and access top US-based AI tools for coding, debugging and image generation.
"On Chinese online marketplaces Taobao and Xianyu, relay providers are advertising native Claude Opus access, unlimited Claude Code subscriptions and 1:1 official models without capability reduction. Most sellers promote support for one-million-token context windows, domestic network access without VPNs, and compatibility with tools such as Cursor, VSCode and OpenClaw," the report said.
These services work by routing requests through servers located outside mainland China. This means developers can use advanced AI models without needing a VPN or foreign payment method.
As per the report, listings onChinese marketplacespromise full access to premium AI tools, including Claude Opus, unlimited Claude Code subscriptions and support for very large one-million-token context windows.
Sellers also claim these services work smoothly with popular coding tools like Cursor and Visual Studio Code, while offering low-latency performance that does not require a VPN.
According to a Chinese programmer, Anthropic's Claude performs better than local AI models. A developer from Hangzhou said Claude produces more accurate code and requires fewer bug fixes even when prompts are not perfectly written.
"Claude’s outputs are usually very accurate. Even when my instructions are not completely clear, it can still execute tasks well. I rarely need to fix bugs afterwards. Chinese models still hallucinate more often and sometimes generate code for things I never asked for," Hangzhou-based programmer surnamed Song toldSouth China Morning Post.
However, not all relay platforms are trustworthy.
The report revealed that some providers advertise models like Claude but secretly process requests using cheaper Chinese models such as MiniMax or Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen. This means users may not always get the model they are paying for.
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