Michelle Topham 
Now, I am not one of those people who will lecture you on only watching Chinese donghua on legal sites. After all, no matter how hard you try, some series simply aren’t available legally (yet) with English subtitles.
But, there are a number of ways to watch hundreds of Chinese donghua free — and legal. And they do not take that long to find.
Here then is a quick list of places where you can watch Chinese donghua, without having to pay for any show.
6 free places to watch Chinese donghua completely legally
First of all, YouTube, believe it or not, is your friend as there are several channels that offer a huge number of donghua seasons and series completely free. They just hope you will watch a few ads when you do.
These, of course, are generally the big Chinese production companies that offer the donghua they have produced first to their VIP members who pay a small monthly fee so they can watch episodes the day they release.
Those same episodes are then available to the rest of their viewers for free — usually a few days later.
These include:
Made By Bilibili — they have everything from older donghua like Fabulous Beasts, Fairies Album, The Three Body Problem, My Heroic Husband and Legend of Exorcism, to the currently ongoing (and superb) Tales of Herding Gods, Rakshasa Street, Mythical Creatures are My Dinners, Spy x Sect, Immortality, Divine Lord of the Heavens and many many more.
Start by browsing through their Playlists section and then, if you don’t find what you’re looking for there, comb through their individual videos as some of them do not seem to end up in a Playlist.
They also upload new videos many many times a day, so there is always something new to watch.
Bilibili TV — They also have their own website where you can watch even more English-subbed donghua. So don’t miss that either.
This one is especially good as, usually, only the latest episode is for VIP members and then, as soon as the next one releases, the previous one becomes free for everyone.
They stream Tales of Herding Gods, Tiger Crane, A Herbivorous Dragon of 5,000 Years Gets Unfairly Victimized, The Invincible, Spirits in Chinese Brushes, Carp Reborn, Qi Refining for 3,000 Years and hundreds more.
YOUKU — Another production channel similar to Bilibili, they also have a massive selection of completely different donghua to watch for free.
They include The Demon Hunter, The Legend of Sword Domain, Supreme Lord of Galaxy, Is There a God, Rise of the Saint King, The Magic Chef of Ice and Fire, Apotheosis, Adventures in Subduing the Demons, The Legend of Sword Domain, Thousands of Worlds, The Young Brewmaster’s Adventure, Great Journey of Teenagers, and a slew more.
Just one hint, their playlists tend to be a bit of a shitshow, with a horrible mix of episodes and trailers all shoved together, so you’re usually better searching for each episode video separately.
Tencent Video — Tencent is the biggest player in the Chinese donghua market so, of course, they have a huge number of series to watch.
They also do a great job of releasing new episodes of donghua series with English subs just a few days after they release privately for their VIP members.
Their library includes mega-shows like World of Immortals, Soul Land, Wu Gen Ji, Legend of Soldier, Jade Dynasty, A Will Eternal, Renegade Immortal, The Immortal of Seven Realms, Blades of the Guardians, Against the Sky Supreme, Swallowed Star, Perfect World and a lot more.
Tencent also often combines a huge number of episodes into one video, for instance the recently uploaded Wu Gen Ji, with all four seasons available to watch in a 26 hour video, which makes a full season or series very easy to watch.
iQIYI — Just like the other three, iQIYI offers a large number of shows, including Spiritual Lord of Chaos, Jian Gu, Love Between Fairy and Devil, The Flame Imperial Guards, The Guardian Legend, Beyond the Ocean, Good Killer, Xianwu Heaven, The Great Ruler etc.
More of their shows are only available for VIP users, and some seem to remain that way.
Plus, they’re a bit annoying, as many of their titles are only shown in Chinese, even though the videos offer multiple subs including English.
Their channel is still worth a look through though, as you will find quite a few gems.
YOY ANIMATION (English dubs?) — There is also a brand new donghua channel on YouTube called YOY ANIMATION, and they will soon be releasing an English dub of the enormously popular series A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality.
My guess is this is just the first donghua that is getting an English dub, as they are a major Chinese company who are, apparently, “all in” on getting non-Chinese to love their animated series just as much as the Chinese do.
Fingers crossed then, we may just be getting a whole lot more English-dubbed donghua coming soon.
Now get started watching Chinese donghua for free (and legally) on all those places. I guarantee that will keep you busy for a year or two. At least.
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