Chinese LLMs Are No Longer "Catching Up"
Two years ago, Chinese models were benchmarking against GPT-4. Now they've matched or surpassed international frontiers in multiple dimensions. Here's a comprehensive comparison of five mainstream Chinese models.
Models Compared
| Model | Provider | Latest | Open Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen | Alibaba | Qwen3.7 Max | Partial |
| GLM | Zhipu | GLM-5.1 | Partial |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek | V4 Pro | ✅ Yes |
| MiMo | Xiaomi | V2.5 Pro | Partial |
| Kimi | Moonshot | K2.6 | Partial |
Coding
The area with the most progress. DeepSeek V4 Pro and MiMo-V2.5 Pro are very close to Claude Opus level. Ranking: DeepSeek ≈ MiMo > Kimi > Qwen > GLM
Chinese Language
Natural advantage for Chinese models. Qwen is the most formal, DeepSeek the most natural, GLM strong in academic Chinese, Kimi good at long-document Chinese.
Reasoning
Qwen leads in math reasoning. DeepSeek strongest in logic and code reasoning. GLM good at common sense. Kimi strong at long-horizon reasoning.
Pricing
DeepSeek and MiMo are the cheapest at ~¥3/¥6 per M tokens. Kimi is the most expensive. Tencent Hunyuan offers ultra-low pricing at ¥0.41/¥1.22.
Context Length
DeepSeek (1049K), MiMo (1000K), and Qwen (1000K) all support million-token context. Kimi (262K) and GLM (200K) have smaller windows but high quality within their range.
Verdict
Best value: DeepSeek V4 Pro Best all-around: Qwen3.7 Max Best for coding: DeepSeek or MiMo Best for long docs: Kimi K2.6 Ultra-cheap: Hunyuan Hy3
