Friends sitcom’s disappearance from video website mourned by its huge Chinese fan base
Millions of social media posts lament Sohu’s removal of the US television show, which has proved a hit in China
Millions of Chinese fans of Friends have been left heartbroken after a video site dropped the hit US sitcom, beloved by millennials in China for its endearing young characters and as an English conversation resource.
Sohu had broadcast reruns of Monica, Rachel, Chandler and the gang since 2014, but abruptly stopped in April, citing “copyright issues”.
The move has prompted anguish on Chinese social media sites such as the Twitter-like Weibo, where a “Friends offline” hashtag has generated millions of posts.
Many have called for Sohu to renew its Friends rights, while others have offered advice on where to download pirated episodes of the Emmy-winning show, which originally aired in the United States from 1994 to 2004.
It’s a window through which Chinese can learn American culture.
Centred on a group of young New Yorkers, it became a global hit through syndication, but perhaps nowhere more than in China, where it first gained a following from pirated DVDs or illegal downloads before streaming rights were secured.