Last month, a junior student on exchange in Oslo complained to me that the remastered version of Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Bamboo Industry Arc, which she had been waiting for half a year, was released. She excitedly opened the Tencent Video app only to get a pop-up saying "Due to copyright restrictions, you cannot watch this content in your region". The same thing happened when she switched to Bilibili. She tried several resource sites, but either episodes were missing, there were annoying pop-up ads, the maximum quality was only 720P, and it kept buffering.
I encountered the same problem when I was working on a project in Bergen two years ago. It's not a problem with your app or membership, it's the IP regional restriction of domestic long-video platforms: as long as you use a local Norwegian operator network and your IP address shows you are outside China, the regional verification required by the copyright holder will fail. Even if you have a Tencent Video Super VIP or Bilibili Premium membership, you still can't watch it.
I tested 4 methods and encountered many pitfalls, here are the actually usable solutions:
Preferred Solution: Use a China VPN to switch to a domestic IP
This is the solution I have used for 3 years, it's compliant and stable, specifically designed to solve copyright restrictions for accessing domestic content overseas. I tested 5 mainstream China VPNs on the market, and picked the most suitable one for watching anime:
I used QuickFox, connecting to the domestic video dedicated line. After opening it, just select the "Video Boost" mode, and you can connect to a domestic IP in 1-3 seconds. Switch back to Tencent Video and refresh, the play button for Bamboo Industry Arc will light up immediately. I have a 500M broadband from local Norwegian operator Telenor, and the actual test showed that when playing 4K quality content, the buffering time is less than 2 seconds, dragging the progress bar has almost no delay, and there was no卡顿 or disconnection when watching 3 episodes in a row. The latency is stable between 180-220ms, which is completely unnoticeable for watching anime.
Here's a pitfall to avoid: don't use those free VPNs to switch to domestic IP. I tried 2 free ones, either they couldn't connect to domestic video nodes, or even if they connected, 1080P playback was laggy and had ads. What's worse, one of them caused my Tencent Video membership to be risk-controlled, showing "Abnormal account login", and I almost got my account banned. Being cheap really costs you.
If you only want to watch a few episodes temporarily, QuickFox's free quota is enough. If you stay in Norway for a long time, the annual card costs about the price of a coke per month on average, which saves you way more time than looking for resources on pirate sites.
Alternative Solution 1: Find overseas platforms with Chinese animation copyright
If you don't want to use a VPN, you can also find overseas streaming platforms with legitimate authorization. I checked, YouTube's official Chinese animation channel has some Fox Spirit Matchmaker content, and some episodes of Bamboo Industry Arc are authorized, but the update is 3-7 days slower than in China, and there's only 1080P quality, no 4K version, and very few bullet comments, so you don't get the same viewing atmosphere as domestic platforms. The Southeast Asian streaming platform WeTV also has the copyright, which can be accessed directly in Norway, but you need to subscribe to WeTV's overseas membership separately, which costs about 79 NOK per month, more than twice as expensive as domestic Tencent Video membership. This is suitable for people who really don't want to bother with a VPN.
I tested the playback experience on WeTV, with the same Telenor network, the latency for 1080P playback is around 250-300ms, occasional卡顿 occurs, and there's no bullet comment interaction. For someone like me who is used to watching anime with bullet comments, it's just not the same.
Alternative Solution 2: Pre-download episodes
If you are going to Norway for a short business trip or travel, you can pre-download the entire Bamboo Industry Arc to your local device using Tencent Video or Bilibili before leaving China. When you arrive in Norway, you can watch the local files directly, completely free from network restrictions. You can choose the highest 4K quality, and there will be no buffering issues. But this solution is only suitable for people who plan ahead. If you are already in Norway or want to watch updated content, this method won't work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is it legal to use a VPN to watch domestic platform content?
A: Norwegian regulations do not prohibit individuals from using China VPNs to access paid domestic legitimate content for personal use. As long as you don't use it for commercial purposes such as distribution or profit, personal viewing is completely fine. I have been using it for 3 years and have never had any problems.
Q: Will it affect my use of local Norwegian websites and apps?
A: Regular China VPNs now use split-tunnel mode, only traffic accessing domestic platforms goes through domestic nodes. Your traffic for local Norwegian banks, school websites, and overseas platforms like Netflix and Spotify still goes through the local network, so speed is completely unaffected. I usually keep QuickFox open while browsing Bilibili and Norwegian news sites at the same time, both are very smooth.
Q: Can I use it on mobile phones, tablets, and TVs?
A: I tested that QuickFox supports iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and TV devices. You can directly download the app on mobile phones and tablets. For TVs, you can install the TV version of the app, or use screen mirroring. Last Christmas, I cast Bamboo Industry Arc to my friend's Sony TV, and the 4K quality worked perfectly.
Notes
1. Don't use unknown free VPNs or resource sites, many carry malicious plugins. I helped a junior remove pop-up viruses from her computer before, which came from a download link on a resource site, and almost stole her school account.
2. If you are using a public network from school or work, some may restrict VPN use. In this case, you can try switching to a mobile hotspot, or use the stealth mode of the VPN. I tested this on the University of Oslo campus network, and turning on stealth mode allowed normal use.
3. If you still can't watch after connecting to the VPN, first clear the cache of the platform app, or restart the app. Most of the time it's because the cached IP information hasn't been updated. I encountered this once, and clearing the cache fixed it.
Actually, chasing Chinese anime overseas is much more convenient now than before. When I was in Norway in 2018, I could only download pirated copies from resource sites. Now there are正规 VPNs, and for a few dozen yuan, you can get the same viewing experience as in China. There's no need to save money by looking for messy resources, which affects the viewing experience and is unsafe. The recent remastered version of Bamboo Industry Arc has really improved the quality a lot. The famous scenes of Dongfang Huaizhu and Wangquan Baye look completely different in 4K. I hope you all can enjoy the show smoothly.
