How to Access Chinese AI Models (DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM) Outside China

China has produced some of the world's best AI models in 2026 — DeepSeek V3 rivals GPT-4o, Qwen Plus matches Claude Sonnet, and GLM-5.1 achieves coding SOTA. But accessing these models from outside China has always been a headache.

The Barriers

1. Phone verification: Most Chinese AI platforms require a +86 phone number
2. Payment: They accept Chinese bank cards, Alipay, or WeChat Pay — not Visa/Mastercard
3. Documentation: API docs are often only in Chinese
4. Different API formats: Each platform has its own API format (not OpenAI-compatible)
5. Billing in CNY: Hard to budget when prices are in Chinese Yuan

Available Chinese AI Models

The Easy Way: AIPower

AIPower is the only platform that gives you all these Chinese models plus Western models (GPT-5, Claude, Gemini) through one OpenAI-compatible API. No Chinese phone number. No VPN. Pay in USD with credit card, WeChat Pay, or Alipay.

# Access any Chinese AI model with standard OpenAI SDK
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.aipower.me/v1", api_key="YOUR_KEY")

# Qwen Plus — Alibaba's flagship
r = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="qwen/qwen-plus",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
)

# GLM-4 Flash — nearly FREE
r = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="zhipu/glm-4-flash",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
)

Getting Started

1. Create a free account at aipower.me
2. You get 10 free API calls
3. Use any OpenAI SDK (Python, Node.js, Go, curl)
4. All 10 Chinese models are available instantly