An independent guide to Chinese AI
Chinese AI: models, apps and where to start
Chinese AI includes models, apps and services developed by teams based in China. This guide focuses on DeepSeek, Qwen and Kimi. Choose what you want to do—ask questions, read a PDF, edit an image or build with an API—and follow the matching guide below.
Explore the three guides
DeepSeek, Qwen and Kimi at a glance
DeepSeek
Find guides to asking questions, searching the web and reading PDFs, plus separate routes for API access and local models.
Qwen
Explore image creation and editing, short video generation and coding, with separate guides for chat and developer access.
Kimi
Follow guides to PDFs, documents, slides and spreadsheets, including what to check in the files you download.
These are starting points for our guides, not a ranking or an exclusive list of what each service can do.
Start with your goal
What do you want to do with Chinese AI?
Start with the result you need. Each route leads to instructions for the relevant app or developer service.
01 / TRY AN ASSISTANT
Open an official chat
Go to DeepSeek, Qwen or Kimi on the provider’s own service. Our directory explains where each link takes you; ChinaAI does not host a visitor chat.
02 / WORK WITH A FILE
Read a PDF and check the answer
Upload a document, ask a focused question and compare the answer with the source pages. These guides show the steps and real examples.
03 / IMAGES AND VIDEO
Create an image, edit a photo or make a clip
Choose a guide for making something new or changing an existing image. Check the output’s details, dimensions and movement before using it.
04 / DOCUMENTS AND SLIDES
Turn a brief into a file you can use
Prepare a document, slide deck or spreadsheet with Kimi. Follow the export steps and check the downloaded file’s layout, figures and formulas.
Documents · Slides · Spreadsheets · Local files with Kimi Work
06 / DEVELOPER API
Connect a model to your own software
Match your API key to the right provider, send a first request and read the answer and usage. A chat subscription is separate from API access and billing.
Choosing between two assistants? Compare their results on specific tasks, then check whether those tasks match your own.
Understand the choice
An app, a model and an API are not the same product.
An official app gives you a ready-to-use interface. A model produces the responses. An API lets developers connect a model to their own software. Some model releases can also be downloaded for local use or third-party hosting.
Check whether the service is available in your region, what it costs, its usage limits and how it handles your data. Where your data is processed depends on the service or hosting you choose; the model developer’s country alone does not answer that question.
For everyday use, start with an app guide. Choose an API guide when you need to connect AI to software you are building.
Original work, stated limits
See what happened in real tasks.
These are separate tests with different inputs and conditions. They help you inspect a workflow; they do not establish a universal winner.
DEEPSEEK / PDF
Check a PDF answer
We tested DeepSeek with three fictional PDFs. Its first answers met our fact and page-reference checks for text and clean image-only versions of a short brief, and it calculated a £65.00 total from a supply-order table. We could not see the exact serving-model version.
Consumer-chat test · 22 September 2026
QWEN / IMAGE
Inspect an image edit
In one test, Qwen changed an AI-generated blue mug to terracotta orange. It also regenerated small details and reduced the image dimensions. Compare both images before relying on the result.
One edit, not an image-quality benchmark · 18 September 2026
KIMI / LOCAL FILES
Review a Kimi Work task
In one Windows test with fictional files, Kimi Work produced a workshop plan and flagged conflicting start times. The activity log also showed a read-only shell command that our prompt had not explicitly requested. The guide includes the inputs, output and permission context.
One local-folder task · 23 September 2026
Need a direct comparison? Our Qwen vs DeepSeek test records 24 requests across four short text tasks. Read its conditions and answer records before drawing a conclusion. Browse all comparisons and practical tests →
Go deeper
Find the exact guide you need.
Choose a model release, research a question or check the cost of a service.
MODELS
Names and releases
Distinguish hosted service names from model families and downloadable releases.
DeepSeek models
Qwen models
Kimi models
For a Windows setup with Ollama, see DeepSeek R1 or Qwen.
SEARCH & RESEARCH
Find sources and check the claims
Use web search for a focused question, or Deep Research for a report with citations. Open the cited pages and check whether they support the answer.
COSTS
Plans and pricing
Check whether a rate belongs to an app membership, an official API or another hosting service.
Earlier version reviewed by the China AI Chat Team on 23 September 2026. Editorial update: 1 October 2026. ChinaAI is an independent publication and is not affiliated with these providers. For their current services, visit DeepSeek, Qwen and Kimi directly. See our research method, who publishes this site and how to report a correction.