Internet in China

[aroberts42]

Ok, this may sound dumb, but it is my finacee's biggest concern about moving to China. We live a lot of our lives here in the states online. We chat, blog, use forums, IRC, play tons of games, and download movies, TV shows, and music daily. I have heard that there are some internet restrictions in China, but I don't know if that is true. Also, since we are going to teach, our apartment is supposed to supply internet access, but how good is it? Is it dial-up or high speed? Is it as fast as we have here in the states? I have searched the forums here for information about internet in China, but didn't really find the information I was looking for. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[anon6969]

Its very fast for some things.

However Wikipedia, CNN, BBC & British Newspaper Websites, Blogger (and most Blogs), Facebook, Youtube are all Blocked (they are unblocked only occasionally).

To get access you'll have to look into Proxy software which I hear costs around $40 a year. (if you can work out how to set it up) but access there is likely to be much slower.

[aroberts42]

That is very intersting. I wish the government here would block Wikipedia (hehehe jk ). But that is interesting. Do you mean that the proxy software would grant access to those blocked sites? Is that legal?

Does anyone know about access to games like WoW or Lord of the Rings Online or chat servers like IRC?

[liuzhou]

Wikipedia, CNN, BBC & British Newspaper Websites, Blogger (and most Blogs), Facebook, Youtube are all Blocked

Wikipedia is not blocked.

CNN is not blocked

BBC is not blocked.

I don't know of any British newspaper site which is blocked. The Times, Guardian.Telegraph,Mirror, Sun (if that's a newspaper), Mail - none are blocked

Some blog sites are blocked - not most.

Facebook and Youtube, yes. .

[gato]

The blocked sites are mostly overseas Chinese sites, video sites and social media sites. The Internet connection to foreign sites is a bit slower because everything has to go through the filters of the Great Firewall, but the speed is not too bad..

Among public blog sites, Blogspot has been blocked for a long time, Wordpress was blocked but was unblocked recently, MSN is unblocked most of the time but was blocked for a period just earlier this month. If you tell us which sites you are using, we can check for you.

[roddy]

Sounds like you'll want to get a VPN for things like Youtube and Facebook - there's no way of knowing what will be blocked when, but you'll use it one way or another.

Doubt you'll get a dial-up connection, but connection speeds, particularly to overseas, vary a lot. You'll just have to wait and see.

[yuanfen89]

Does anyone know (or could someone check) to see if The Daily Show and Colbert Report websites are blocked.

Thanks!

[stoney]

yuanfen89

Just tried both those sites and they are not blocked, and videos are working fine.

[yuanfen89]

谢谢！ I'm very relieved

[abcdefg]

You can check to see if your favorite sites are blocked by using a tool such as the one provided at: http://www.websitepulse.com/help/gadgets.china-test.html

As to connection speed, in the secondary cities in which I've lived, I have usually wound up with DSL at about 100 mbps. I would imagine cable and such are available in first-tier cities, but I don't know that for a fact.

Edited December 31, 2009 at 11:00 PM by abcdefg

[Lugubert]

a-g, do I read you correctly that there's no cable at all, anywhere, in Kunming?

The hostel where I stayed in Chengdu had a row of sufficiently fast computers and an efficient wireless system for all their area. What about Chengdu flats, anyone?

[889]

China's a big country, and you don't tell us where you're heading. Some things seem to get blocked in some places but not in others.

For example, if you're heading to Xinjiang these days, you'll find your internet access will be limited to People's Daily and Xinhua:

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/12/29/xinjiang-internet-blackout-very-partially-lifted/

[anon6969]

When I was in Shanghai, Newspapers, CNN, BBC, Wikipedia, Blogs, Youtube, Facebook were all blocked. Of course you will always be able to find some foreigners that say they can access some of these websites for some of the time in some location in China - but it's not the norm.

That was the situation in China's biggest city - Shanghai. In the provinces the situation is likely to be much worse and you can't guarantee access to any of the above mentioned websites. When you can access them they are slow or unreliable.

Games like WoW and Movie download sites will always be open and fast.

[Lugubert]

Last month in Xinjiang, even international phone calls were blocked.

[mcgau]

Any foreign media are vulnerable to the ban, but i can still access BBC, CNN, Wikipedia and the Economist when I was in 越西, 永胜, 华坪, 泸沽, 普雄 and 凉山 in the past 30 days. All these places are small enough to make a judgment although i don't know if it's relevant.

I've just met a guy coming from Xinjiang and he told me that internet is still 'blocked' that people can only go to websites registered in the "xinjiang official website list". Can anyone confirm it?

[abcdefg]

a-g, do I read you correctly that there's no cable at all, anywhere, in Kunming?

@Lugubert -- There could be cable in Kunming without my knowing about it. None of my tech-savvy local friends suggested it, and I just went with DSL since it seemed to be the “default” option and was easy to get installed. Had an account with China Telecom. The DSL was fast enough for my needs.

Have lived in Kunming several times starting in 2007, and never came across cable for residential use, at the schools where I studied, or at internet cafes and “wired” clubs. So my info is only anecdotal and not authoritatively researched. Cable might be available to large corporations or to a consumer who dug deeper and more vigorously than I did.

Same experience in Dalian, Harbin, and Zhuhai.

Edited January 1, 2010 at 07:41 PM by abcdefg

[trisha2766]

How is it in large cities in hotels where mostly foreigners stay? Are sites blocked there too?

Would you be able to upload videos to YouTube? If a person wanted to set up a blog (on their own domain) and add videos from YouTube would that not be possible?

If not possible to upload to YouTube, then I will need to come up with a different method to share video from China to friends and family at home.

[aroberts42]

Thank you all so much for the replies! unfortunately we are not sure where we will be living, somewhere near Xi'an is the goal though.

What about educational sites? I teach online for University of Phoenix and was hoping to keep that job while we lived in China just to suppliment our income. I hope I can access that regularly.

[abcdefg]

How is it in large cities in hotels where mostly foreigners stay? Are sites blocked there too?

Would you be able to upload videos to YouTube? If a person wanted to set up a blog (on their own domain) and add videos from YouTube would that not be possible?

What's blocked in China is blocked even at the fanciest foreigner hotels in whatever city. You will need to find alternatives to YouTube. Other options for blogs and photo sharing have been recently discussed. Suggest you do a search. If I had the links, I would post them for you, but I'm afraid I don't.

[imron]

You will need to find alternatives to YouTube.

Or use a VPN, which will allow you to access any blocked sites.