Nevertheless, a proverbial wall remains too high for many to overcome. We are talking about none other than The Great Firewall. Accessing China’s websites as if you were a regular resident of the country is not an easy feat for people outside. There are systems in place to control and regulate the information moving in and out of this Asian giant. Due to this, acquiring the right tools to gain access remains crucial.

Unlocking the Asian Giant

The Chinese government controls The Great Firewall to monitor and regulate the type and quantity of information inside the country. This control of data exists for more than one billion estimated internet users within the country. Due to these restrictions, proxies become mandatory if you wish to access the internet the same way a Chinese citizen would.

Many of the social media services you are used to in the West don’t work at all in China. Instead, the Chinese government promotes the development of homegrown alternatives to control their local market efficiently and grow the country’s economy even further.

Thanks to these restrictions, Chinese people are shielded from events that happen outside their country. In addition, they allow the government to pursue the policies it feels are best for the country and its citizens regardless of what happens elsewhere.

Apart from the above, another frequent hurdle is the slowness of the connection. The Great Firewall itself slows down and complicates the network more than it needs to. Another common occurrence is that websites may present a different version of themselves to a user outside of China.

Needless to say, breaking into China so that you can get accurate and timely information remains important. Since digital information is heavily regulated, you will need to secure the right tools. If you buy China IP’s proxies, you will be able to view the same information accorded to a Chinese citizen.

Who Will Find a China Proxy Useful?

Proxies are the ultimate go-to solution to this information access problem. They work by hiding your regular IP and handling your requests as if you were using a device in China. That way, websites and services located in China will see you as a regular resident and appropriately display the information. That way, you will be able to view the many local alternatives that are only available to Chinese users.

This service is mainly for people interested in getting geo-accessed content and specialized data. Since information is heavily regulated, accessing it without restrictions can be cumbersome at times. If you want to test an automation tool inside their network or scrape some data, you won’t be able to access the full extent of the Chinese internet unless you use a proxy with an IP address from a resident.

Besides this, people who fall in the following categories will also find Chinese proxies useful:

• Chinese expats living abroad looking to access the network of their home country
• Language students learning Mandarin who want to study and access audiovisual materials that are difficult to find outside of China
• People who wish to access the vast library of Chinese films and series, many of which are available for free on local websites
• Anyone interested in learning more about Chinese culture or wanting to discover the inner workings of the digital space in the country.

Final Thoughts

The importance of China in today’s market is tremendous. Its massive population and economic growth in recent years make it a prime, ripe market to consider. At the same time, anyone interested in accessing China’s vast wealth of potential will need to surmount The Great Firewall to understand how digital information moves within the country.

In recent years, the Chinese government has set even more zealous restrictions and controls over this digital information. If you were to procure China proxies from a reliable provider, you would be able to overcome these restrictions and access the wealth of information hidden within the country. What are you waiting for? Gain access today.

Despite some positive advances in international relations and improvements in civil rights over past two decades or so, the Chinese government still retains elements of strict control over its citizens. Despite there now being a higher availability of international media and more options for internal communication, internet access is still strictly controlled with many foreign and even some domestic websites blocked by sophisticated firewalls. This choke allows the Chinese government to control content that they deem unfit to be shared by the general populace. These internet controls can often be problematic for business travellers, as certain file sharing services or foreign servers may be blocked by a firewall, preventing remote access to emails or stored files.

There are also problems for Chinese people wishing to access Chinese websites from abroad, with some Chinese sites inaccessible from other countries. Surprisingly, global internet giants like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google are not above the censors and are inaccessible from China. The government strictly controls social media and even Chinese Facebook and Twitter alternatives such as Ren-Ren and Weibo are heavily monitored.

Despite the ‘Big Brother’ attitude taken by the government, both Chinese internet users (often called ‘Netizens’) and international surfers have taken advantage of numerous workarounds to enjoy the freedom of access usually found in other countries. One of the best known methods to get around internet controls is to take advantage of a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a tool which allows users to fool ‘The Great Firewall of China’ by making it look like your computer or device is accessing the internet from a different part of the world. This even works the other way around, so Chinese websites can be accessed from abroad by making it look like the computer or device is in China.

Chinese government technicians are aware of this trick and have managed to develop more stringent software and firewalls to block certain VPN services.  However, some VPNs still work and are used by travellers and Chinese citizens alike to gain access certain blocked content, a boon for business men and women who need to reach foreign email and storage servers or visit work-related websites that are on the blacklist.

VPN services are easy to use and are often controlled by an app which configures a device’s internet settings, allowing common firewalls and censorship software to be circumvented. Apps can be downloaded from trusted websites or through the App Store / Google Play, but always make sure that your software is installed before you enter China, as Google play is also blocked. Some VPNs require advanced configuration, but most pay services include instructions and product support that make installation easy. VPNs will allow access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Google Documents, as well as foreign storage servers and blocked foreign websites.

A very popular pay service that still works is ExpressVPN, a robust pay-monthly VPN service with multiple options to maintain private, secured connectivity, even on unreliable internet connections or public Wi-Fi. ExpressVPN is available for PC, Mac, iOS, Android and Windows Phone and offers a free trial.

Staying in touch and accessing important work documents will be helped greatly by using a VPN service, but there are other ways of staying connected with the outside world. Calls to foreign networks from mobile and landline phones are blocked, and there’s confusion as to whether Skype still works and a great Chinese app, WeChat (similar to Whatsapp) makes it easy to make internet calls and send instant messages. Be warned however, as there is a certainty that messages and calls within China are being monitored and there is a high likelihood that external communications are also subject to the same scrutiny.

Staying in touch from China and accessing work files and emails can be made easier and a VPN service is strongly recommended as it doesn’t look like the Chinese government’s stance on internet censorship isn’t going to change anytime soon.