What to do before moving to China (especially re. tech)

[Ankrah]

Hello Friend I have had admission into Beijing normal university but my visa woulf not be proceed until the school confirms my admission to the embassy by sending them a mail

Is any one facing the same challenge

[xuefang]

Tech wise what I need and use day to day are these:

• A good VPN that allows you to access all sort of sites that are blocked. I use VprnVPN and it's still working great.
• WeChat is a must and very useful for all sorts of things. After you have a Chinese bank card connect it to WeChat wallet and you can pay in most shops and stores, top up your mobile phone etc.
• Alipay is important too for paying and you can add several cards there. Alipay is handy if you download Taobao app and like buying stuff online. Most shops accept both WeChat Waller and Alipay, but some may prefer one or the other.
• If you have Android phone and Google Play to buy apps, you need  VPN to access I think. Having an iPhone has been much easier here, because Apple Strore isn't blocked.
• Laptops are cheaper to buy elsewhere. Anything with a brand is cheaper elsewhere.

[feihong]

@889

WeChat on iOS and Android runs in a sandbox, so it can't access all the data on your phone. The desktop version doesn't have this restriction.

[889]

"WeChat on . . . Android runs in a sandbox, so it can't access all the data on your phone"

 

No, that's not what the sandbox does; WeChat can access whatever data you've given it permission to access. And you give it permission to access and do an awful lot.

 

The Android sandbox simply means that Wechat cannot share resources with other apps, and vice versa, unless permission has been given. And even then, the sandbox is not inviolate. Look at what Google says:

 

"Like all security features, the Application Sandbox is not unbreakable. However, to break out of the Application Sandbox in a properly configured device, one must compromise the security of the the Linux kernel."

 

https://source.android.com/security/overview/kernel-security.html

 

Have you rooted your Android phone? Of course you have. And that opens the door to compromise of the Linux kernel.

[ChTTay]

889 - you live in China and don't use wechat? Or just want to make everyone aware of these issues?

It is interesting to know.

My friends company got raided/inspected once. The police physically took his phone and looked at his wechat. Weird.

[feihong]

@ChTTay

 

I think 889 is overstating the security risk of WeChat. I don't believe that installing WeChat will give it access to all the data on your phone. If there was solid evidence of that, it would be removed from the Google Play store.

 

That said, there's no way to know what WeChat does with the data that it can access, such as your contacts and your text messages, and I have no doubt they would gladly turn it over to the police if asked.

[Alex_Hart]

Jumping in with a related question, but wondering about updating apps and the ilk from China. Just bought an international version of an Android phone as my old phone shattered a month before I move to China, triggering a warranty. Should I be installing a Chinese app store and downloading all my apps through that, e.g. Pleco? I used an android phone last time I went to China and faced the same issue, but was simply unable to update my apps. Would prefer not to be in the same situation again as I will be there for three years this time. Already installed my VPN on the cell, but wondering what a more long-term solution would be given that VPNs seem inevitably to fail.

[889]

If you read what I'm saying, it's in response to those who believe wechat isn't intrusive. How can anyone give such an assurance? Unless wechat goes to an open source model anyone can check, your working assumption should be it's problematic. It's wechat's burden to prove the software doesn't do anything sneaky.

[laogui]

Just be careful about setting up QQ before arrival in China - it may become locked if you use a different device from a different location ... maybe they have solved that, but it applies to hotmail, SKYPE, yahoo 

 

[laogui]

Following on the question of Google Play Store in China, how do we get around that issue? (is that question going to summon a Roddy on my back?)  What IS the Chinese APP store?

[889]

You cannot access Google Play in China, unless you manage to get a VPN to work. Problem is, if the VPN you arrange (before you arrive China, of course), turns out not to work very well, then it'll be difficult to arrange an alternative, since most VPN sites are on the blacklist.