bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Xinmei Shen

This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Imagine waiting years for the final episode of the biggest TV show in the world… and then an hour before it’s due to begin, it’s delayed indefinitely.
(Note: There are no spoilers for Season 8 of Game of Thrones in this story.)
That’s what happened to Chinese viewers waiting for the finale of Game of Thrones on Monday morning. Shortly before it was due to go live on streaming platform Tencent Video, the company said it was delayed because of “media transfer issues,” with no updated release date.
Fans were crushed by the announcement… but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t watch it.
Game of Thrones is, after all, the most pirated show in the world. So it should come as no surprise that people watched the show anyway in China, a country that has long had a fairly, shall we say, carefree approach to IP.

While there were plenty of people on Weibo complaining that they couldn’t watch the episode, there were also a significant number of people posting their thoughts, reviews and memes about the episode.
The hashtag “GoT ending” got 150 million views and 39,000 posts on Weibo, while one with an explicit spoiler that I won’t repeat here had 320 million views from 70,000 posts.
Links to the episode on streaming sites or Baidu Cloud (think Google Drive) were spread widely on social media. This is nothing new. Even in previous weeks, when Tencent did make episodes available on time, it was easy to find pirated versions of the show.
One of the reasons for that is that episodes on Tencent Video are censored. Chinese authorities are, unsurprisingly, not huge fans of sex or violence… which, if you’ve ever seen Game of Thrones, is quite a large part of the show.
Whole scenes are sometimes cut out of the episodes in China, including five minutes from this season’s premiere. Unsurprisingly, it ends up confusing and upsetting viewers, who often wonder why some scenes don’t seem to make sense… because they’re missing a key part seen in the rest of the world.
Beyond Tencent’s claim of a technical issue, it’s still unknown why the finale continues to be delayed in China. Some suggest it’s part of the US-China trade war; others suggest the themes of the episode itself mean it’s unsuitable for a Chinese audience.
But one thing it has done is unite netizens in their anger towards Tencent.
“You are forcing people who are willing to pay to watch the legitimate version to look for pirate streams,” one Weibo comment says.
(If you want a spoiler-filled look at the funniest memes Chinese viewers shared about the Game of Thrones finale, click here!)

For more insights into China tech, sign up for our tech newsletters, subscribe to our Inside China Tech podcast, and download the comprehensive 2019 China Internet Report. Also roam China Tech City, an award-winning interactive digital map at our sister site Abacus.



Netflix K-drama Squid Game season 2 review: new games electrifying and pulse pounding

Meet Harris Dickinson, who stars in Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and Antonio Banderas, and in Steve McQueen’s Blitz, but who once struggled to land roles – the London native is dating musician Rose Gray

Meet Alec Baldwin’s outspoken brother Daniel Baldwin: the Trump supporter claims there’s a ‘bidding war’ going on for the alleged Diddy tapes, has been married 4 times, and struggled with addiction

Meet Miami Vice actor Don Johnson’s 5 children with 3 different women: from Fifty Shades of Grey actress Dakota Johnson and Twin Peaks star Jesse Wayne Johnson, to Gucci model Atherton Grace

TV shows and streaming video

Chinese viewers turn to piracy after Game of Thrones finale is delayed

No one should be surprised that Game of Thrones is widely pirated in China. No One. Arya. Get it? (Picture: HBO)