To access Google from China, you have to circumvent your connection using a virtual private network (VPN), because access to Google is officially prohibited. A VPN is a program that allows you to access the internet from a location that is not your actual location. In this case, the VPN makes it look as if we are accessing Google from the United States, or another country that allows you to access Google, even though you are actually in China, a country where access is prohibited.
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Part 1 of 3: Getting to know VPN
Step 1. Download a VPN to disguise your IP address
A VPN disguises the content you are currently accessing by routing it through a private (usually encrypted) connection. Many free VPNs with limited daily bandwidth or data volume. You can also subscribe to a VPN with a higher data volume for around $10 a month. The rental fee can be an investment for you, especially if you know very well how to use it. You can also share one VPN account with several friends. By renting a shared account, you will save on rental costs, because the cost of renting an account is shared.
Visit https://en.greatfire.org/ to check if certain websites are blocked or banned in China
Step 2. You need to understand that the Chinese Internet will not provide Western search results
Most internet users in China are not worried about this because they generally prefer to use websites made by the nation's children that are not blocked by the Chinese government. Baidu, for example, is a search engine that is more popular in China than Google, and is not blocked by the government. The bigger problem is that Baidu will only show search results from China – and block search results from countries other than China. Many say that the Chinese government has banned Google and other websites primarily so that its citizens don't get caught up in the global tide.
- When you use Baidu, instead of Google, you will find what Chinese people are looking for. If you use Google, the search results you will get are data from all over the world.
- The same goes for video search: if you search using Youku instead of Youtube, you will get the video that the Chinese are looking for and uploading. You may find some videos uploaded by Chinese, but the service will still be limited.
Step 3. You should also know that it is technically legal to use a VPN
The Chinese government has never declared that using a VPN to circumvent the "Great Firewall" (as the Chinese government has called for internet censorship and blocking) is illegal, and no one has ever been convicted of using a VPN. However, China has blocked major VPN websites. If you access a website that operates in China, you should remember that they have agreed to disclose information about where you access the site from – and what you do on the site – at the request of the Chinese government.
Part 2 of 3: Choosing a VPN
Step 1. Try investigating the popular VPNs on this list
It is possible that the Chinese government has disabled some of the VPN providers listed before you read this list. Do your research before downloading a VPN, and make sure it hasn't been banned.
- fqrouter: This app works great on Android for free, and works well especially if your phone is rooted. If you share your phone to laptop connection using USB tethering, you can get unblocked internet access on both devices. This VPN has a stable proxy and has many functions.
- SuperVPN: This app works on Android, and offers a free trial version for 30 days. After the trial period, you can use it for an hour for free, but once every hour you have to reconnect the connection.
- ExpressVPN: This app is specially made to be fast and stable in China. You can use various applications. The servers of this service are hosted in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the west coast of the United States. You can also get your money back within 30 days, without any questions ExpressVPN accepts Paypal, most major credit cards, Bitcoin, Unionpay, Alipay, Webmoney, and CashU.
- 12VPN: Headquartered in Hong Kong, and they have experience with Great Firewall, serving a lot of customers from China. They also have a 7 day money back policy, but no P2P downloads/torrent connections.
- VPN. AC: Lots of user-specific features from China, including the ability to make OpenVPN traffic look like regular SSL traffic. Servers are in Hong Kong, Singapore and the west coast of the United States. Its services include peering connections with China Telecom and China Unicom.
- VyperVPN: Works on Windows or Linux. You get 500 MB free every month, but you have to pay more. It works fine if configured with OpenVPN.
Step 2. You need to understand that VPNs can appear and disappear at any time
The Chinese government sometimes shuts down some VPN service providers, mainly because of a conflict of political interest or something else, but this doesn't do you any good if you've downloaded the software. Recently, China blocked all VPNs at the protocol level (including large enterprise VPNs). However, there are other VPN providers that do stealth to hide their VPN traffic.
- Ask the locals for up-to-date advice on what VPN they use. Most of the residents there can show you their favorite free VPN that you can use.
- It's rare that a VPN that has been downloaded and then becomes unusable. However, if the VPN provider you've downloaded has completely shut down and is no longer accessible to new users, you don't have to worry – because there will always be new VPN providers on the internet.
Step 3. Remember that a VPN can make some local Chinese websites inaccessible
For example, many shopping websites list local Chinese prices-which are usually much cheaper than overseas prices-only when your IP address indicates that you are accessing the site from within China itself. This means that if you use a VPN, the website will hide its local prices because it thinks you are accessing from outside China – say from the United States.
Part 3 of 3: Using a VPN
Step 1. Use a VPN protocol
You will need to download a VPN protocol-a kind of hosting-to set up most VPN services.
- OpenVPN: This protocol / client used to be reliable, but lately it's been less stable. Know that most ports are blocked – connection reset. The main cause seems to be RST packet spoofing (spoofed RST packets).
- L2TP: This is a fairly fast protocol for China. At the time this post was uploaded, this protocol was working fine.
- PPTP: Use this only if L2TP cannot be used. PPTP is usually slower and less predictable than L2TP.
- SSTP: Use SSTP to allow you to connect over an HTTPS network that has security protection (Port 443). This protocol allows clients to securely access the network behind NAT routers, firewalls, and web proxies. You don't have to worry about the usual port blocking problems anymore.
Step 2. Download and install the VPN
To search for the VPN client you are going to use, you can simply type, for example: "download ExpressVPN" into the search engine. The search results will give you a link to the VPN protocol website. If you can't find the website, try downloading a VPN program via a torrent site.
Step 3. Run the VPN program
The program interface of each VPN will be slightly different, but almost always a choice of country will appear for you to choose. This country (such as South Korea or Canada) is a pseudonym that you choose to make it appear as if you are accessing Google from there. A VPN will scramble your IP address so it looks as if you are accessing the site from a foreign country X. If the VPN has not been banned by the Chinese government, you will be able to circumvent the Great Firewall.
Step 4. Select which country you use as your IP address mask
Once the VPN is downloaded, select which country you want to connect to – for example, the United States or South Korea. Once connected, you will be able to access any website that has been blocked by the Chinese government: Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Netflix, etc. If you are in China, try to connect to a VPN server located in Asia (eg in China, Hong Kong, Bangkok). The second best option is to connect to a server located on the west coast of the United States (eg Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco).
- Users in China frequently visit websites located in Mainland China, so the VPN servers must be based around the country to maintain speed. On the other hand, Westerners need servers based as close as possible to the home country of the website they are accessing – for example, choosing a United States IP address to access a United States website.
- Western websites will always load faster with a VPN closer to the country of origin of access, than to China. On the other hand, loading Chinese websites will be slow if you use a Western IP, because you're basically redirecting web traffic overseas, then back again.
Step 5. Make sure you have a fast internet connection
Accessing the internet via a VPN requires significantly more bandwidth than just a standard connection, so you won't be able to do this easily if you just rely on public networks with slow connections like cafes, airports, and hotels.
Step 6. You should be careful using Google in China, even if you are already using a VPN
When you use Google services, don't try to search for sensitive keywords that could attract the attention of the Chinese government. Your connection will be reset, meaning you won't be able to access the internet for about 90 seconds. After that, you can only access it again after the logo reappears.
