Go on Google in China
You must use a virtual private network (VPN) to access Google from China, as there are no official or "legal" ways to do so. A VPN is a program that lets you pretend you're accessing the internet from somewhere other than where you are. In this case, it lets you pretend that you're accessing Google from the US, where it's not banned – even while you're in China, where it is.
Steps
Understanding VPNs
- Download a VPN to disguise your IP address. A virtual private network (VPN) obscures the content you are accessing by routing it through a private (and usually encrypted) connection. Many free VPNs will have limits on either bandwidth or total dataflow per day. You can subscribe to higher-volume VPNs for about $10 a month, which may be worth the investment if you know you'll be using them a lot. Consider sharing one VPN account with a few friends to split up the cost.
- Visit https://en.greatfire.org/ to check whether a given website is blocked or otherwise restricted in China.
- Understand that the Chinese Internet will not return Western search results. Most Chinese internet users don't need to worry about this, because they generally prefer using sites hosted inside of China that the Chinese government does not block. Baidu, for instance, is a search engine that is more popular in China than Google, and it is not blocked by the government. The broader issue is that Baidu only turns up search results from China – and blocks the rest of the world. Many say that the Chinese government has banned Google and other websites largely for the purpose of keeping Chinese citizens out of the global loop.
- When you use Baidu instead of Google, you will find what Chinese people search. When you search Google, you will find data from around the world.
- The same goes for videos: when you search Youku instead of Youtube, you will find what Chinese people search and post. You may find some foreign videos put online by Chinese people, but the service still has its limits.
- Know that it is technically legal to use a VPN. The Chinese government has never stated that it is illegal to use a VPN to circumvent the "Great Firewall", and nobody has been prosecuted for using a VPN. Despite this, China blocks the websites of most major VPNs. If you access websites that operate in China, remember that they've agreed to disclose information about where you're accessing the site from—and what you're doing on them—upon request from the Chinese government.
Choosing a VPN
- Explore this list of popular VPNs. Know that any of these providers may or not have been disabled by the Chinese government by the time you read this. Do your research before you download a VPN, and make sure that it hasn't been banned.
- fqrouter: Works well for Android. It is free, and it works best if your phone is rooted. If you use a USB to tether your phone to your laptop, you can get access to unblocked Internet on both devices. This VPN has a stable proxy and a wide range of functions.
- SuperVPN: Works with Android. First 30 days are free. After the trial, you can get one free hour, but you must connect again after every hour.
- ExpressVPN: Made to run quickly and stably in China. You can use various apps. The service hosts servers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and the west coast of the US. You can get your money back within 30 days, no questions asked. ExpressVPN takes PayPal, most major credit cards, Bitcoin, Unionpay, Alipay, Webmoney, and CashU.
- VyprVPN: Works with Windows or Linux. You get 500 MB free each month, but you have to pay for more. Works well when configured with OpenVPN. Use the Chameleon Protocol they offer which was developed to get around the Great Firewall. VyprVPN also accepts Alipay and has recently reduced their price points.
- 12VPN: Headquartered in Hong Kong, and they have experience with the Great Firewall, many Chinese customers. 7 day money back policy. But no P2P downloading/torrenting.
- VPN.AC: Various features for Chinese users, including the ability to make OpenVPN traffic look like regular SSL traffic. There are servers in Hong Kong, Singapore, the west coast of the US. The service also features peering with China Telecom and China Unicom.
- Understand that VPNs come and go. The Chinese government occasionally shuts down some VPN providers, mostly because they crossed some political or other line, but this has no effect on you if you've already downloaded the software. Currently, China is blocking all VPNs at the protocol level (including corporate VPNs). However, there are other VPN providers that stealth techniques to hide their VPN traffic.
- Ask locals for up-to-date advice on VPN choices. Most people living there will be able to point you to their favorite, free VPNs.
- It's rare that already-downloaded VPNs are rendered useless. However, if you find that your VPN provider of choice has been shut down and has become inaccessible to newer users, don't worry – there's always another VPN out there.
- Bear in mind that VPNs might make some domestic Chinese websites inaccessible. For example, many shopping sites will list Chinese prices—which are typically much cheaper than foreign prices—only when your IP address indicates that you've accessed the site from within China. This means that when you're using your VPN, the site will hide these prices from you because it thinks you're accessing it from outside China – say, the US.
Using a VPN
- Use a VPN protocol. You will need to download a VPN protocol—a host, of sorts—to set up most of the VPN providers.
- OpenVPN: This is currently a less stable protocol/client, although it has been reliable in the past. Know that most ports are blocked – connection reset. The primary cause seems to be spoofed RST packets.
- L2TP: This is a quick protocol for China. At the time of posting, it functions well.
- PPTP: Only use this if L2TP isn't working. PPTP is generally slower and less predictable than L2TP.
- SSTP: Use SSTP to connect over secure HTTPS (Port 443). This lets clients access networks securely behind NAT routers, firewalls, and web proxies. You won't need to worry about the usual port-blocking problems.
- Download and install the VPN. Simply run a web search for the VPN client that you plan to use. For instance, "download ExpressVPN". You should find a link to the VPN protocol website. If you can't find a website, try downloading a program on a torrent site.
- Run the VPN program. The interface will be slightly different for each VPN, but you will almost always be prompted to choose a country. This country (e.g. South Korea or Canada) is the country from which you will be pretending to access Google. The VPN will scramble your IP address so that it looks like you're accessing the site from X foreign country. If the VPN has not been restricted by the Chinese government, you should be able to circumvent the Great Firewall.
- Choose which country you want to mask your IP address. Once the VPN is downloaded, select the country that you want to connect to – for instance, the United States or South Korea. Once you've connected, you should be able to visit any site that's blocked in China: Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Netflix, etc. When in China, try to connect to a VPN server in Asia (e.g. in China, Hong Kong, Bangkok). The next-best option is to connect to a server on the west coast of the US (e.g. Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco).
- Chinese users are often visiting websites based in Mainland China, so the VPN server must be based near the country to keep speeds fast. Westerners, on the other hand, need a server based as close as possible to the web server's country of origin – for instance, choose a US IP address to access a US website.
- Western websites will always load much faster through a VPN closer to the home country than to China. On the flip side, Chinese websites will load very slowly with a western IP, because you're routing the web traffic to the other side of the world, then back again.
- Make sure that you have solid broadband connection. Working through a VPN requires much more bandwidth than a standard internet connection. Thus, it cannot be done easily on slower internet connections – especially public networks in places like cafes, airport terminals, and hotels.
- Be careful using Google in China, even with a VPN. When you're using Google services, don't try to search for sensitive keywords that might catch the attention of the Chinese government. Your connection will be reset, meaning that you'll be shut off of the Internet for about 90 seconds. You should be able to get back on when you can see the website's logo again.
