The Chinese government blocks certain worldwide social networking, news and micro-blogging websites from being accessed from inside of China. Similarly, it blocks Chinese websites from being accessed from outside of China. This is blocking policy and implementation is known as the “Great Firewall.” When members of the world media, Chinese residents traveling abroad, foreign students, expatriates or researchers want to access websites hosted in China, they often cannot do so.

China does this by tracking the IP address of users trying to access these Chinese sites. If the IP address is not Chinese, the user is blocked from access. The solution to this restriction is the use of a China VPN to provide unfiltered, unrestricted access. 

A Chinese VPN Provides:

1. The ability to bypass the Great Firewall of China. This enables users to access Chinese websites and online service from outside the country.

2. Data encryption. A Chinese VPN encrypts data with VPN protocols. This ensures a secure connection, even in public Wi-Fi hot spots.

Available Protocols

The highest-quality VPN providers offer all of the following protocols. The user must choose the protocol that suits them best:

PPTP (Point to Point Tunneling Protocol) – uses 128-bit encryption. It is not the most secure of the available protocols but it is fast. It is built into all the latest operating systems including those on mobile devices.

L2TP/IPsec (Layer 2 Tunneling protocol with IP Security) – L2TP utilizing IP Security (IPsec), provides 256-bit encryption, ensuring confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity of data transfer. It carries out double encryption, which is much more secure, but results in slower data speeds and more CPU usage.

OpenVPN – provides 256-bit encryption. It is the most secure and best performing protocol available. However, it is not built into most operating systems. Simple software can be downloaded to configure OpenVPN on desktop and laptop computers. Most mobile devices don’t yet support OpenVPN.

Choosing a China VPN

Users must consider the following when choosing a VPN for China:

1. The protocols supported by the user’s device must be compatible with the protocols that the provider supports.

2. Bandwidth and data transfer speeds offered by the provider.

3. The number and location of provided VPN servers.

4. What packages and options are available.

Users should weigh all of their options carefully before signing up for a VPN provider. A high quality paid VPN provider is worth the research required to locate it.

About Author : Guest author Calvin Hunter is a writer with an interest in various internet services and technologies such as the VPN service noted above. His articles provide information on online security, privacy, and freedom.