From The Wall Street Journal:
The TV show “Sex and the City” has never appeared on the air in China. Yet it’s pretty well-known among China’s college students and young professionals, thanks to pirated DVDs and online copies. They watch the show to learn English and to get a glimpse of life in New York City.
While “Sex and the City” never aired in China, it did inspire a 32-episode series called “Really Really Want to be in Love” that appeared from 2004 to 2006, and featured four single, independent career women who yearn for romance. It’s a shameless copy of the HBO show, minus the sex part. (Pirated copies of “Sex and the City” are titled “Desire City” because most people in China would be appalled by a TV show with the word “sex” in its name.)