Awesome Mainland Chinese TV Website

[kc0ltv]

I found this website last night while reading Wikipedia entries for the various CCTV channels:

http://bugu.cntv.cn

It has live streaming video of all the CCTV channels, as well as the many regional stations (including the "BTV" - Beijing TV channels, and channels from most every Chinese province) and other networks. All in all, about 150 channels in total.

The site is in Chinese, but the interface is easy enough, with the TV channel URLs (visible in the status bar of your browser) being Romanized. For example, http://bugu.cntv.cn/live_channelhubei/index.shtml is Hubei's provincial TV station, http://bugu.cntv.cn/live_shenzhencaijing/index.shtml is Shenzhen local TV (apparently a local news / financial channel), http://bugu.cntv.cn/live_channelxz/index.shtml is "XZTV", etc. You can also run it through Google Translate or the translation service of your choice.

Fascinating seeing how the Chinese watch TV, especially the local advertisements. There also seems to be a disproportionate amount of dramas set in the Dynastic eras.

 

[recto101]

Its Interesting that CCTV has a French, Spanish, Russian and English feeds.

 

[landtuna]

Fascinating seeing how the Chinese watch TV, especially the local advertisements.

I've thought the same about European adverts as well. They tend to be racier and more attention-getting than most of our bland variety. Even the stoic English seem to have a different demeanor when it comes to TV ads.

There also seems to be a disproportionate amount of dramas set in the Dynastic eras.

I noticed the same in Japan back in the 60's. Tales of Shoguns and samurai are the Japanese equivalents of American Westerns and they can range from action movies to soap opera presentations. It seems the Chinese would have a similar history.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Its Interesting that CCTV has a French, Spanish, Russian and English feeds.

The different language feeds have been around for a number years now, intended for international distribution. Basically a TV equivalent of China Radio International.

 

[kc0ltv]

Some other things I've seen (or am pretty sure I have): a local homes show, a restaurant-in-crisis reality TV show (complete with a Jaime Oliver-lookalike), an "adventure" show which featured a portly white guy with a southern accent in a windsurfing accident surrounded by angry Chinese people, a commercial for a diabetes hospital, commercials for local residential developments with words like "Mansion" and "Royal" in their names, etc., etc. Sometimes I feel like I'm peering into a parallel universe.