How Did IShowSpeed Stream in China?

IShowSpeed’s China tour: dates, cities and views

IShowSpeed’s China tour started in Shanghai on March 24, 2025 and ended in Changsha on April 7. He announced it on X on March 18 with the post “CHINA HERE I COME!!!! LIVE 2:00PM CST 3/24”, Sportskeeda reported. The Shanghai stream on his YouTube channel began at 2 pm China time that day. Sixth Tone wrote on April 9 that he had streamed from eight major cities in just over two weeks. Dao Insights called Changsha the “purported last stop” of the China trip, and Xinbang called the April 7 stream the tour’s finale.

His YouTube channel has a recording of each stop’s stream:

Date, 2025	Stop	On air, China time	Length
March 24	Shanghai	2:00 pm to 8:19 pm	6 h 20 min
March 26	Beijing and the Great Wall	9:29 am to 3:39 pm	6 h 10 min
March 28	Henan (Shaolin kung fu)	1:45 pm to 6:35 pm	4 h 50 min
March 31	Chengdu	2:31 pm to 7:54 pm	5 h 23 min
April 2	Chongqing	3:00 pm to 9:31 pm	6 h 31 min
April 4	Hong Kong	9:18 am to 6:57 pm	9 h 39 min
April 5	Shenzhen	2:31 pm to 8:14 pm	5 h 43 min
April 7	Changsha	4:01 pm to 10:05 pm	6 h 4 min

The times come from the start and end times recorded on each stream’s YouTube page, checked on October 22, 2026. YouTube’s own date labels show the day before for some streams. After China he went on to Mongolia, which he had announced as the next part of the trip. His Mongolia stream went live on April 11.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on March 27, 2025 that the Shanghai and Beijing streams had nearly 10 million views combined. TVU’s promotional account put total views worldwide above 50 million in early April. Xinbang (新榜), which publishes Chinese social media data, wrote in April that the tour’s live streams had 90.7 million views on YouTube. What’s on Weibo, quoted by China Digital Times, wrote that he reached 38 million YouTube subscribers during the Hong Kong stream.

Chinese officials and state media praised the streams. SCMP reported that they hailed him as evidence of a growing desire for mutual understanding between Americans and Chinese, and that China’s embassy in Washington celebrated his visit on X. In January 2026, China Daily listed his livestreams fourth among its top 10 cultural events of 2025.

How does IShowSpeed stream in China?

His crew used TVU One backpacks and TVU’s cloud production tools, according to TVU Networks, which makes cloud-based live video systems for broadcast and streaming. TVU published this account in Chinese as a case study on its website in April 2025, and China.com ran a slightly updated version on April 7, credited to 看点时报 (Kandian Shibao).

The account is TVU’s own marketing. It praises TVU’s products throughout, and China.com prints it with a disclaimer that it is “for reference only” and “not a basis for buying or selling” (our translation). The claims below are TVU’s.

TVU’s account says the team chose TVU’s cloud production package “after strict evaluation and comparison of several options” before leaving for China (our translation). It names two products:

• TVU One, a backpack transmitter. TVU says it uses TVU’s ISX technology to combine several 4G and 5G network connections. It adds H.265 adaptive bitrate encoding and forward error correction to keep the picture steady when the network fluctuates. TVU says its hot-swappable batteries suit long outdoor shoots. TVU’s English site describes TVU One as a backpack-style unit that combines several networks, such as 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi and wired connections, into one stream.
• TVU Partyline, a cloud intercom. TVU says its low-latency video calls and live return feed of the show let the director in the US and the crew in China work together “as if they were in the same place” (our translation).

The Chongqing stream, step by step

TVU describes one stream in detail: Chongqing on April 2, 2025, which it calls the team’s first with two cameras. In our translation of TVU’s account:

1. A camera operator on the ground filmed the main picture with a TVU One and uploaded it to the cloud in real time.
2. A drone pilot filmed the city from the air and sent that feed through a second TVU One.
3. TVU’s cloud decoded both feeds and passed them to a third-party cloud OBS system. OBS is free software for video recording and live streaming.
4. A director in Los Angeles watched the feeds through TVU’s cloud, produced the show in OBS and pushed it “to YouTube and other global video platforms”.

TVU says the Chongqing stream lasted six hours. His YouTube channel shows it on air from 3:00 pm to 9:31 pm China time.

TVU’s account doesn’t say how many backpacks the crew used on other days, whose SIM cards were in them, or which mobile networks they joined. TVU later wrote that IShowSpeed used its gear again for his 35-day US tour, which began on August 28, 2025. The English-language TVU stories about him that we found cover the US tour, not China.

How did IShowSpeed stream in China if YouTube is banned?

That part is not confirmed. We found no statement from IShowSpeed, his team, TVU or YouTube on whether his crew used a VPN, roaming SIM cards or a link to TVU servers outside mainland China. Any special arrangement with the Chinese authorities is not confirmed either.

YouTube is blocked on mainland Chinese networks. The UK government lists it among services that are permanently blocked in China, with Google, Facebook and X. Our page on YouTube in China covers the block and the ways visitors get around it.

TVU’s account covers part of the route. In the Chongqing example, the backpacks sent video to TVU’s cloud, not straight to YouTube, and the push to YouTube came from the director’s cloud OBS. TVU doesn’t say where its cloud servers were or how the feeds left mainland China.

Hong Kong is a separate case. YouTube works there: Holafly says YouTube is accessible in Hong Kong and Macau, and MyChinaGuide says Hong Kong is outside the Great Firewall. The firewall question applies to the seven mainland stops.

Some fans believed the Chinese government was paying for the tour, Complex reported in March 2025. Slipz, a manager on his team, posted that IShowSpeed had received “$0” from the Chinese government and that “He is in China at his own expense, and will likely take a net loss.” That denial is about money. It doesn’t explain the network setup.

VPNs, Premieres and “permission”: what was claimed

Before the tour, he hadn’t said how he would stream from China, Deltia’s Gaming reported. Streams Charts wrote on March 20, 2025 that it was “still unclear how Speed will be able to stream on YouTube from China”. These claims were reported at the time:

• A VPN. Sportskeeda wrote that YouTube “can only be accessed through VPNs” in China. Deltia’s Gaming reported that X users argued China doesn’t arrest tourists for using VPNs to reach banned websites. Neither outlet said what his crew planned to use.
• Pre-recorded Premieres. Deltia’s Gaming reported that part of his audience thought he had pre-recorded the China streams and would broadcast them with YouTube’s Premiere feature. The streams were live: YouTube labels each of the eight videos “Streamed live”, and SCMP described him live-streaming his Beijing and Shanghai visits non-stop for six hours.
• “Permission”. On March 25, 2025, Deltia’s Gaming wrote that “despite the ban, Speed’s team received permission to livestream on YouTube without any restrictions.” It didn’t say who gave the permission and didn’t cite a source. We found no confirmation from his team, TVU, YouTube or the Chinese authorities.

IShowSpeed on Douyin and other Chinese apps

IShowSpeed opened an official Douyin account for Chinese viewers days before the tour. Sixth Tone calls Douyin China’s version of TikTok. Xinbang wrote that Douyin set up his account on March 20, 2025, and Sportskeeda quoted his first video: “Ni hao (Hello) Douyin, it’s Speed. It’s me, this is my official account.”

On March 22, Deltia’s Gaming reported that he would livestream the trip on Douyin. The full streams went out on YouTube. Whether any of them also ran live on his Douyin account is not confirmed.

Chinese viewers could follow him on Chinese apps:

• Sixth Tone reported on April 9 that he had official accounts on Douyin, Xiaohongshu (RedNote) and Weibo, with 4 million, 570,000 and 140,000 followers.
• Xinbang wrote that Kuaishou relayed the April 7 finale live, and that fan-made compilations with translations and subtitles had 16 million plays on Bilibili.
• A Tingtong Tech column republished by Jiemian said the Changsha stream was also carried live on Bilibili.
• What’s on Weibo, quoted by China Digital Times, wrote: “Some Chinese state media even started livestreaming his streams as well.”

If you want to stream from China

In TVU’s account, IShowSpeed’s setup was professional broadcast gear, with a crew on the ground and a director abroad. TVU calls TVU One a professional live broadcast device built for use on the move (our translation). TVU also says Twitch streamer Hasan Piker’s team chose TVU One for his own China streams in November 2025, after looking at how IShowSpeed’s tour went.

For your own trip:

• Our guide to livestreaming from China covers the practical options.
• For streaming on the move by train, see China high-speed train Wi-Fi.
• For how a roaming eSIM or a VPN changes which apps work, see Do I need a VPN in China if I have an eSIM?
• For recent user reports on VPNs, see which VPN works in China now. The UK government says VPNs need to be licensed by the Chinese government, so read Is a VPN legal in China? before you go.
• If you want drone shots like the Chongqing stream, the UK government says the import, possession and use of drones are strictly regulated in China. It advises contacting the Civil Aviation Administration of China before you travel.

Related guides

• YouTube in China
• Livestreaming from China
• eSIM or VPN for China?
• Which VPN works in China now?
• VPN for hotel Wi-Fi in China
• Apps to download before going to China