The Story of Yanxi Palace: fans made to pass South China Sea sovereignty test to watch new episodes of Chinese drama on Vietnamese pirate video site
Site gives access to popular drama if viewers choose the ‘correct’ answer to a quiz on the contested Spratly and Paracel islands
A Vietnamese video website has put the patriotism of China’s drama junkies to the test with a chance to see the latest episodes of the hottest Chinese period piece – with a catch.
Vietnamese site Bom Tan this week offered viewers the most recent instalments of The Story of Yanxi Palace, a hugely popular tale of Qing dynasty (1636-1912) palace intrigue, but only if they could “correctly” answer a pop-up quiz with a question about the Spratlys and the Paracels, chains of contested islands in the South China Sea.
To get access to the episodes – which are not yet available on iQiyi, the series’ official Chinese video streaming platform – viewers must select “Vietnam” from the multiple choice answers to the question: “Which country do the Paracels and Spratly Islands belong to?”
The other options are China, the Philippines and Japan.
The Spratlys are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia, while sovereignty over the Paracels is contested by China, Vietnam and Taiwan.