What comes to your mind when you think about China: The red flag? Dragons? Kung Fu? Pandas? Mao’s Great Leap Forward? For me, the People’s Republic of China is the country of Confucius. And of the Great Firewall. Every time I travel to China, I despise this feeling of being watched online. And I hate being restricted. That’s why today, we’ll find out the best VPN for China. So that you and I can read or watch whatever we want online!
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The Great Firewall: Websites blocked in China everyday
For those of you who didn’t go to China, it’s a bit hard to grasp. Because every day you are able to use Google, Facebook and Twitter. You can share your (worthless?) opinion with your friends and even with the whole world. Isn’t it fun to argue with flat-earthers, creationists and other conspiracists? Priceless.
But in China, internet users can’t search on Google. They can’t watch lolcats videos on Youtube. And users in China cannot access Facebook, Twitter and thousands of other websites. There’s a parallel universe online for Chinese people. An internet made of government-approved websites. Your Chinese friends want to look for Peking duck recipes? They go to Baidu. If they want to watch propaganda videos, they connect to Youku. And if they want to stalk their friends on a social network, they sign up on Renren. Beginning to see now why you need to look up the best VPN for China 2019 and best VPN for China free?
Some of our favourite websites offer a local version for Chinese customers. The app is functioning. But users are not allowed to share data with the international community. This is why we need the best VPN for China iPhone and best VPN for iPhone in China.
The Chinese government has a good command over the content of the internet. It really is Big Brother watching you. Or maybe big brothers… Because there are over two million people working in the Internet Police. Their mission is to minimize cyber crimes. But they spend most of their time censoring content that goes against the rules. Every year, during the sessions of the People’s Representative Congress, countless websites and servers are shut down.
If reports are true, China can be considered as the world’s largest prison for the Netizens. And the only way out is to use a VPN in China.
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Censorship techniques
As a rule, all new social/content websites are immediately red-flagged as a potential threat. The Internet Police block access to the website from China. Then, they review the site content and take a decision: Keep blocking if it’s a threat or allows access to Chinese users if it’s a false alarm. Once a website is blocked, the only way to get access with a VPN China. Virtual private networks are therefore often common practice in the Middle Empire.
The Great Firewall of China is set to restrict access to websites that represent a potential threat to the government. Every time a user in Mainland China connects to a website, the Internet Police scans the URL, IP Address and page content. With a VPN in China, you can bypass censorship and also reduce its range. This is because it offers to go online from server locations in other countries.
A simplified topology of the Chinese firewall – Wikipedia
However, the saddest technique is not even applied by the government itself. It’s self-censorship. And it’s maybe more efficient than technological restrictions. Chinese users perceive they’re being watched 24/7. And the fear of law enforcement encourages individuals and businesses to willingly censor their own communications to avoid legal and economic repercussions.
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List of popular websites blocked in China
All these websites are blocked. However, you can access these while in China with a good VPN. The best VPN for China cloaks your IP address and hides you behind one of its own IP Addresses. If you’re located in China, I’d recommend you to connect either to UK or USA servers. And this is why we’re continuously on the search for the best VPN for China free, best VPN for China 2019, best VPN for China iPhone and best VPN for iPhone in China.
Ok boys and girls, it’s time to learn again. I hope you did your homework. Because we’re now starting lesson 2 of our VPN class: The VPN protocols. Today we’ll compare VPN protocols: OpenVPN vs PPTP vs L2TP. Each of these offer different features and levels of security that we’ll review. The goal is to understand what is the best VPN protocol for you. Now be quiet at the back and focus.
The types of VPN protocols
As I said previously, there are many types of VPN protocols on the market. The three main protocols are: PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN. They’re very popular among VPN providers. But there are many other protocols like IKEv2 or SSTP. And you can also find patented VPN protocols, which belong to a company, like Chameleon from VyprVPN.
So what’s a protocol? The word protocol comes from the Greek protocollon, meaning a leaf of paper glued to a manuscript volume that describes the contents. In IT, a protocol is the specific set of rules that end points in a telecommunication connection use when they communicate. Protocols specify interactions between the communicating entities.
Ok, and in English? When a computer and a server need to communicate, they need a common set of rules to follow. We could say they need a common language. Or they couldn’t understand each other’s data. And this is what we call the protocol.
There are many different protocols. Because there are many ways computer and server can communicate with each other.
VPN protocol comparison
| Alexa Rank | Domain | Category | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | google.com | Search | BLOCKED |
| 2 | facebook.com | Social | BLOCKED |
| 3 | youtube.com | Sharing | BLOCKED |
| 8 | twitter.com | Social | BLOCKED |
| 32 | instagram.com | Social | BLOCKED |
| 51 | xvideos.com | Porn | BLOCKED |
| 54 | xhamster.com | Porn | BLOCKED |
| 64 | pornhub.com | Porn | BLOCKED |
| 87 | dailymotion.com | Sharing | BLOCKED |
| 108 | nytimes.com | News | BLOCKED |
| 110 | dropbox.com | Sharing | BLOCKED |
| 112 | vimeo.com | Sharing | BLOCKED |
What is the best VPN protocol?
Now you know what’s a VPN and you know about VPN protocols. So, you can decide what’s the best VPN protocol for your use. Indeed, you can use a different protocol on your different devices. OpenVPN is the best protocol for your computer. But if you’re the owner of an iPhone, you’ll have to use L2TP, as OpenVPN is not available on this platform yet.
If you favor the speed over the security, you could opt for PPTP. It’s also quick and easy to deploy. However, L2PT/IPSec has the same advantages and is much more secure… Just saying.
This was my lesson: VPN 101: VPN protocols. Stay tuned for more articles coming soon.
Alexa RankDomainCategoryStatus
1google.comSearch BLOCKED2facebook.comSocial BLOCKED3youtube.comSharing BLOCKED8twitter.comSocial BLOCKED32instagram.comSocial BLOCKED51xvideos.comPorn BLOCKED54xhamster.comPorn BLOCKED64pornhub.comPorn BLOCKED87dailymotion.comSharing BLOCKED108nytimes.comNews BLOCKED110dropbox.comSharing BLOCKED112vimeo.comSharing BLOCKED
Source: Wikipedia
VPNs vs China: A raging war
Many VPNs don’t work in China, like free VPN services (Best VPN for China free). Because the Chinese government knows about VPN. And they want to have total control over the Internet. Therefore, they block VPN servers to maintain surveillance and censorship. Only the best VPN for China will give you access to unrestricted Internet. And the best VPN for China 2019 changes all the time.
The Chinese Internet Police keeps blocking the VPN servers. How? By using two techniques to disrupt service: First, deep packet inspection examines the data in Internet packets to try to determine if it’s a VPN connection. Second, IP blocking, shuts off traffic destined for the Internet addresses used by VPN servers. For further technical details, read what is a VPN and what are the VPN protocols.
The only answer from the VPN companies is to improve the encryption of their packets and to constantly renew the IPs of their servers. This way they guarantee you can keep browsing an unrestricted internet.
How to choose the best VPN for China?
It’s hard to select the best VPN for China (Best VPN for China 2019). Because you can’t try it before you get there… And because many companies claim to offer the best VPN, rightfully or not. But not all VPNs can unblock content from China. However, some VPNs for China do offer free trials or a 30-day money back guarantee that can potentially help you make up your mind.
China started blocking the OpenVPN protocol, in its latest round of VPN blocking. Therefore most VPNs are down! China increased Internet censorship greatly in 2017, a trend which appears to be continuing… And an all-out VPN ban is slated to take effect in February!
In general, when looking for the most effective VPNs, you need to pay attention to certain things such as their logging policy, customer service and whether or not it’s possible to have simultaneous connections. These are all characteristics of a high-quality VPN, something you will find usually lacking in free VPN services (even the best VPN for China free).
Knowing that OpenVPN protocol is now blacklisted, I decided to keep only VPN providers which offer un-blocked solutions. And unfortunately, there aren’t many who can boast to have proprietary protocols to bypass Chinese blockade. But ExpressVPN, which has been my favourite VPN to use in China for ages, is one of them.
Let me remind you why I vouch for this one:
- ExpressVPN has patented a proprietary protocol, Chameleon, and offers its own DNS servers. These specifications make it almost impossible to block in China
- Their software is very simple and user-friendly. Select a country (outside of China), click Connect and that’s it.
- VyprVPN offers a native app for mobile devices.
And don’t forget to switch to Chameleon protocol when connecting! It’s very easy: In the Settings, look for the protocol tab, and select “Chameleon 256-bit encryption” protocol. Please note that Chameleon is only available to Premium subscribers.
This was my guide: Best VPN for China | VPNs that work in China. Stay tuned for more articles coming soon, where we can hopefully get into more specific details such as best VPN for China iPhone and best VPN for iPhone in China.
