You are probably reading this out of a Facebook post. And as a traveler you can't help but get the word out share your beautiful photo on Instagram or Facebook to tell the world where you are at this moment.
Now imagine yourself traveling to Mainland China. As you connect to their Wi-Fi, you open your Facebook on your smartphone, and all you get is a white black space. You try some other app on your phone, but the result is the same.
So what really happened?
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Whether you already know this or not, but the People's Republic of China (except Hong Kong and Macao) has implemented a country-wide censorship with regards to their internet and restrictions to the most frequently visited websites from the West as a means of protecting themselves from revealing too much activity, getting exposed to "harmful content" and other events to the rest of the world.
In other words, sites like Facebook, Google and YouTube are banned in your laptops, smartphones and tablets! But that does not stop China from creating its own social media empires. One of the most notable sites used in the Mainland is Sina Weibo.
Want to know which sites work and don't work? Check out
this website and it tells you whether a site is blocked or not in China.
This phenomenon has been around for quite a long time since internet became a thing in China that people around the world consider this as the "Great Firewall" of China, in reference to the ancient wall built in the ancient times (details of the Great Wall can be accessed in our blog here).
Every year, the Chinese government continues to expand and develop more sophisticated methods of blocking these websites, and even blocking more sites they feel can be a threat to their internet - and national - security.
When in China, also be careful with the Wi-Fi you connect to. Most of these connections are just open, not password protected, which can be a threat to your own device. You have no idea who else have been through that connection.
So this leaves you wondering, how on earth can you connect with your loved ones and other important matters online with this Great Firewall standing over you? And how do you stay protected and not get hacked and not have a disappointing online experience in China?
Here is the best solution we came up, and it worked well: use a
VPN (Virtual Private Network).
How does a VPN work?
Every device has a unique I.P address when you connect to the internet. When it detects you are in China, the Great Firewall becomes up and operational. But with a VPN, it masks that address as if it looks like you are connecting from the United States or Japan even when you in China.
That simple, right?
Of course, not. The Chinese are aware of this VPN thing that they are able to block out most of these private networks and restrict use of them when you are in China.
So before we actually set foot in Mainland China, we subscribed to a service known as
ExpressVPN. It is considered one of the fastest, most secure, and easiest VPN to use
(check out the site here). For a pretty decent amount, which you can subscribe in a monthly basis if you will be in China or somewhere else for a longer time, your internet access is secure and you can have all the Facebook and YouTube you want.
At times, the country you are connecting to may not work and connect quickly, so it is easy to shift country whenever possible. Imagine being in China but your phone is connected somewhere in Argentina!
The best part of ExpressVPN is if you are staying in China for 30 days or less, or unless you plan to use the VPN on the next place you visit, or at home, you can get your money back, no questions asked. It would be like using their services for free, as we did when we spent nine days there.
But here's the catch: you have to subscribe, set up, and prepare your virtual private network BEFORE you arrive in China. If you wait to set foot in Shanghai to do everything, chances are you never get the chance to do so because before you do it, you are blocked from accessing these sites.
There are still quite a number of VPNs that are effective in China. We
chose this service because of ease, the speed and convenience. All you
need is some due diligence on your part and which VPN works for you. The
catch is still the same, I tell you.
