Last week when I had dinner with classmates from the University of Zurich, we all complained about the 2026 Qingming Festival new releases: *Above the Embers* got amazing reviews after advance screenings, and the realistic theme of *草木人间* is also highly anticipated. But when we opened Tencent Video and iQiyi, we all got the notification that 'playback is not supported in your current region'. We tried three free tools, but all buffered endlessly, we could only watch 480p blurry footage instead of 1080p, and some even got forcibly interrupted after 10 minutes by platform detection.
I've lived in Switzerland for almost 4 years, and I encountered at least 5 pitfalls when watching *The Wandering Earth 2* during the 2023 Spring Festival. Today I'll share all the tested and effective methods, even beginners can follow them directly.
Why can't I watch Qingming Festival domestic new releases in Switzerland?
The essence is copyright regional restriction, also known as 'region lock'. The broadcasting rights for Qingming Festival new releases purchased by domestic video platforms mostly only cover mainland China. The platform will judge your location through your IP address. If it detects that the IP is in Switzerland, it will directly trigger playback restrictions. Don't believe the偏方 that 'changing DNS can solve it'. I tried it in 2022, and at most it could open the page, but the platform's DRM digital copyright protection system would still recognize the region during playback, so it couldn't play at all.
I tested 3 solutions, only this one is stable
During last year's National Day holiday, I compared 4 tools, and finally kept QuickFox, which I still use now. It works perfectly for the 2026 Qingming Festival releases as well. Let me show you the data I tested last Saturday in my apartment in Geneva: on a Swisscom 100M fiber network, the latency is around 230ms after connecting to the domestic node. Buffering a 1080p video only takes 2 seconds, and there's no waiting when fast-forwarding. I watched the advance screening of *Above the Embers* for 2 hours continuously, no disconnection or platform detection issues occurred.
The operation is really not complicated: it can be installed on mobile phones, computers, and TV terminals. After opening, select the 'video acceleration' mode, the node will automatically match the optimal one, then switch back to iQiyi or Tencent Video and you can play directly, no need to manually adjust any parameters. I remotely installed it for my mom (a 50-year-old who knows nothing about digital products) before, and she could operate it by herself.
Let me mention two points that everyone is most concerned about: first, the clarity. My actual test supports up to 4K resolution. As long as your home internet speed is sufficient, the experience is no different from watching in China. Second, copyright adaptation. I specially tested all scheduled 2026 Qingming Festival new releases on Tencent, iQiyi, Bilibili, and Mango TV, all can be played normally, including those low-budget suspense films exclusively broadcast on Youku.
Tested alternative solutions, suitable for people with different needs
If you only want to watch one film temporarily and don't want to install tools, you can try to find a local Chinese film club. I attended an offline Qingming Festival viewing event in Lausanne before, where Chinese people pooled money to buy genuine film sources for projection. The disadvantage is that the time is fixed, you can't choose the progress yourself, and not every city has such events.
Another option is to buy a domestic hard drive with films. There are stores on Taobao that will copy the latest new releases and send them to you. I bought one last year, a 2T drive costs more than 300 RMB, including all domestic new releases of the year. The disadvantage is that you have to wait for international express delivery, which takes about 2-3 weeks, so you can't catch up with the hot period just after release, and there are no bullet comments, which reduces the atmosphere of watching films.
Frequently Asked Questions, all pitfalls I've encountered
Q: Will this violate relevant Swiss regulations?
I specially checked the terms of the Swiss Federal Telecommunications Office. As long as you use it for personal non-profit purposes and do not distribute cracked film sources, but only unlock the content of your domestic account, it is completely compliant. I have used it for 3 years and never had any problems.
Q: Will this affect my access to local Swiss websites?
No, QuickFox uses split-tunnel acceleration. When you watch domestic videos, it uses the domestic line, and when you browse local Swiss news or school systems, it still uses the local network, they do not interfere with each other. I used to check ETH course materials while watching films, and the internet speed was not affected at all.
Q: Why don't free tools work well?
When I first came in 2021, I used 3 free tools. Either the bandwidth was insufficient, and even 720p buffered during peak hours, or the nodes were blocked by the platform, and a copyright prompt popped up after half an hour of playback. Some even had pop-up ads. Once I was watching a suspense film at a critical moment and a game ad popped up, which almost gave me a heart attack. Calculated, the membership fee of a few dozen Swiss francs a year is really worth it for ad-free, high-definition and smooth playback.
Finally, a few notes
Don't connect to unknown acceleration tools when using public WiFi. Many public WiFi in Switzerland have traffic monitoring, and unsafe tools can easily leak personal information. I used an unknown tool on the public WiFi at Bern Train Station before, and received two phishing emails. After that, I only dare to use regular tools.
If you watch on a TV, don't search for domestic video platforms directly in the TV's own app store. Many versions are international versions, and even if you connect to acceleration, you can't watch them. You need to install the domestic version of the APK. If you don't know how to install it, you can ask QuickFox's customer service, they have dedicated installation packages. My Samsung TV at home used the installation package from customer service, and it was installed successfully in one go.
The quality of the 2026 Qingming Festival films is quite high. I have already finished watching *Above the Embers*, no spoilers, don't worry, the ending is more touching than I expected. Friends who want to watch don't wait for pirated resources. Watching high-definition versions through regular methods and having bullet comments to complain with domestic friends at the same time is the real fun of watching films.
