Taobao APIdianying.taobao.com ↗
Search movies on Taopiaopiao and get cinema showtimes by city and date. Two endpoints return movie IDs, names, status, and cinema listings with addresses.
What is the Taobao API?
This API exposes 2 endpoints against Taopiaopiao (dianying.taobao.com), Alibaba's movie ticketing platform. The search_movies endpoint returns a list of matching titles with their movie_id, movie_name, showing_status, and release dates based on a keyword. The get_cinemas_by_movie endpoint takes that movie_id, a Chinese city name, and a date to return a list of cinemas with their IDs, names, addresses, and available showtimes.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/c34f7836-f906-447a-a9e9-d9a214bf6cb4/search_movies?keyword=%E5%85%AB%E4%BB%99' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace dianying-taobao-com-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
"""Walkthrough: Taopiaopiao SDK — search movies, find cinemas showing one."""
from parse_apis.dianying_taobao_com_api import Taopiaopiao, InputNotFound
client = Taopiaopiao()
# Search for movies matching a keyword.
movie = client.movies.search(keyword="八仙", limit=1).first()
if movie is None:
print("No movies found for that keyword.")
else:
print(f"Found: {movie.movie_name} (status: {movie.showing_status})")
# List cinemas showing this movie in Shanghai today.
for cinema in movie.cinemas.list(city="上海", date="2026-08-18", limit=5):
print(f" {cinema.cinema_name} — {cinema.address or '(no address)'}")
if cinema.phone:
print(f" Tel: {cinema.phone}")
# Point-lookup by known ID demonstrates constructible navigation.
same_movie = client.movie(movie_id=movie.movie_id)
try:
for cinema in same_movie.cinemas.list(city="温州", date="2026-08-18", limit=3):
print(f" [温州] {cinema.cinema_name}")
except InputNotFound as e:
print(f"Movie not found in that city: {e.message}")
print("exercised: movies.search / movie.cinemas.list / client.movie")
Search movies currently showing or upcoming on Taopiaopiao by keyword. Returns matching movies with their ID, name, showing status, and release date when available. The movie list is nationwide; the city parameter is accepted for context but does not filter which movies are returned. Release dates are available for upcoming movies but may be absent for currently-showing movies whose release date has already passed.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| city | string | Chinese city name (e.g. '温州', '上海'). Accepted for context but does not filter the movie results since movies are nationwide. |
| keywordrequired | string | Search keyword to match against movie names (e.g. '八仙'). Case-insensitive substring match. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"movies": "array of movie objects with movie_id, movie_name, showing_status, and showing_dates"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"movies": [
{
"movie_id": "1525003",
"movie_name": "八仙！",
"showing_dates": [],
"showing_status": "currently_showing"
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the Taobao API
Endpoints and Response Shape
The search_movies endpoint accepts a required keyword string and an optional city parameter. It returns an array of movie objects, each containing a movie_id, movie_name, showing_status (e.g. currently showing or upcoming), and showing_dates where available. The city parameter is accepted by the endpoint but does not filter the result set — Taopiaopiao returns nationwide movie listings regardless of city context.
Cinema and Showtime Lookup
The get_cinemas_by_movie endpoint takes three required inputs: a movie_id obtained from search_movies, a city string (must be a valid city name in the Taopiaopiao supported list, e.g. 上海 or 温州), and a date in YYYY-MM-DD format. It returns a cinemas array where each object includes cinema_id, cinema_name, address, and showtimes. Note that the address field is populated for the first listed cinema only, and showtimes may be empty if schedule data has not been pre-loaded for that cinema on the requested date.
Data Coverage and Limitations
Coverage is limited to cities recognized by the Taopiaopiao platform — city names must be supplied in Chinese characters. The API does not expose seat maps, ticket pricing, user reviews, or booking flows. Movie results from search_movies are nationwide, so city-level filtering of which films are playing must be handled by combining results with a get_cinemas_by_movie call and checking whether cinemas are returned.
The Taobao API is a managed, monitored endpoint for dianying.taobao.com — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when dianying.taobao.com changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official dianying.taobao.com API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Look up the movie_id for a Chinese film title to feed into downstream cinema queries
- List all cinemas showing a specific film in a given Chinese city on a particular date
- Check showing_status to distinguish currently-showing titles from upcoming releases
- Build a showtime aggregator covering multiple cities by iterating get_cinemas_by_movie across a city list
- Verify whether a movie is available in a tier-2 or tier-3 Chinese city on a given weekend date
- Correlate cinema_id and cinema_name across dates to track rollout patterns for a new release
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 200 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
| Team | $300/mo | 20,000 | 300 req/min |
| Company | $1,000/mo | 100,000 | 500 req/min |
Each endpoint has a fixed posted price per successful call — most fall between 1 and 10 credits — shown on this API's page before you run it. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.