Shadow APIs: how Chinese developers bypass restrictions to access Claude and Gemini
One high-volume seller on Xianyu advertises ‘low-latency, no-VPN’ access to the full Claude 3.5 suite
In China, a grey market of API relay platforms is thriving, allowing local developers to bypass restrictions to access top-tier overseas AI models such as Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, which are not officially supported in China, despite an escalating crackdown by the foreign providers.
Such relay stations, which route access to overseas AI models through proxy servers hosted outside mainland China, are becoming a go-to place for developers wanting to use US AI models for tasks such as coding, debugging and image generation.
On Chinese online marketplaces Taobao and Xianyu, relay providers are advertising native Claude Opus access, unlimited Claude Code subscriptions and 1:1 official models without capability reduction.
Most sellers promote support for one-million-token context windows, domestic network access without VPNs, and compatibility with tools such as Cursor, VSCode and OpenClaw.
One high-volume seller on Xianyu, who has fulfilled more than 2,200 orders, advertised “low-latency, no-VPN” access to the full Claude 3.5 suite.
Online listings advertising Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini access remain common across the two marketplaces, alongside second-hand electronics and gaming hardware.