It seems both the iQIYI website and apps have some kind of VPN override, which may make it seem like using a VPN to access localized content is impossible, but there are some workarounds:

Functional but not really recommended solutions:

• Wait for others to share a direct URL to an episode and copy/paste it into your own browser
• Google for the direct episode URL yourself (varied results as it doesn't always show up in searches + it can take some time for it to show up)

Desktop + Mobile device:

1. Start your VPN 
2. Open iQIYI in incognito/private window
3. Without logging in, locate the episode you want to watch and open it (logging in will cause the website to override your VPN.) Since You are not logged in, VIP episodes won't play, but you don't need to worry about that so long as you have a paid subscription. Just follow the next step
4. Desktop: Copy/Paste the URL of the episode into your regular browser where you are logged in
   Mobile device: Tap "open in iQIYI app"
5. You will have to repeat these steps for each individual episode if you plan on binge-watching

Note: If you struggle with opening iQIYI on a mobile browser, tap-and-hold on a link to iQIYI and choose "open in background" to force it to open in browser. This should stop it from automatically opening the app whenever you access the website, but be aware you may have to do it repeatedly.

Hopefully this will help some people out. Please feel free to refer people to this thread should they need help.

Also, worth mentioning, I have an iPhone, so please let me know if the mobile steps work differently on an android or anything else!

Happy watching! :)

 Tintentaucher:

So this only works for episodes that are not vip correct?

No, it works regardless so long as you copy the URL from each episode into your regular browser where you are logged into iQIYI. You obviously need a subscription to watch VIP episodes, though.

You just changed my life