You may or may not know about the infamous Great Firewall of China. This firewall blocks certain websites from all Chinese internet users, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Bloglovin’ (who knows why but it just doesn’t work), and nearly all Google services (this includes Gmail!). Why are these websites blocked? The Chinese Communist party supposedly wants prevent Western ideas, such as democracy, from spreading. I’m not going to get too far into the politics of it all, but what I am going to tell you how to access blocked sites in China.
There are a couple different strategies for doing this:
1. Alternatives
This is ideal if you simply want to communicate with friends. Instead of using your favorite Western social media sites, try using an alternative that the Chinese use. Here’s a list of common Chinese social media sites:
WeChat – also popular among asians in America, this app allows you to text and call over wi-fi for free, as well as share photos, videos, and messages with other friends like Facebook!
Baidu – essentially Chinese google, Baidu is a popular search engine in China.
QQ – QQ is an instant messaging service that many Chinese people use that is reminiscent of AIM.
Weibo – It’s described as a “micro-blogging platform” but just to make things simple, I’m going to call it Chinese twitter. Which it basically is.
The Chinese alternatives can also be downloaded in other countries, so if you want to keep in contact with your mom via WeChat, you should both download it, and then you can message and call each other over wifi for free!
2. VPN
If you perhaps run a business, or are very reliant on your current social media sites, then you need a VPN to access them. How a VPN works is that instead of your computer connecting straight to the server you want to access, instead, your computer connects to the VPN server, and then the VPN server connects to the server you want to connect to. Doing this will allow you to bypass the firewall, and protects your information at the same time.
But hold on just a minute. Don’t go downloading the first VPN you find. China has begun to block certain VPN servers so that you can’t use them. In order to find out whether or not your VPN will work in China, you need to find the website of the VPN page, copy the address, then go to blockedinchina.net and paste in the URL you just copied. Then press the “Test” button. If it can connect, your VPN will work. If it cannot, your VPN does not work.
I’m currently using two VPNS, betternet (free) and ExpressVPN ($12.95 per month). Betternet’s app seems to be working fine for me on my iPhone, but their chrome extension didn’t work for me, hence me buying ExpressVPN. I find that ExpressVPN sometimes takes a while to connect, and every time I close my laptop I have to reconnect upon opening, but other than that, the computer app and mobile app have served me well and I highly recommend it.
You may want to be careful, because China blocks popular VPN sites after a while, but for now, the ones I have mentioned work pretty well.
I hope this post helped you guys, and if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
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