Using Internet in China

By Nick Stokes

Different places have different rules. You should expect to encounter certain difficulties or cultural differences while visiting other countries. As a traveler, you need to inform yourself about customs and habits of local population. By doing so, you can avoid potential unpleasant situations with the local population. Anyway you put it, traveling should be a fun experience. There is no point in ruining it by little mistakes or due to lack of information. Normally, each country has its issues as well.

This is why you need to prepare beforehand for any situations which you might experience during your One of the biggest issues that travelers encounter while visiting China is internet. Chinese government has banned access to over 2,000 websites, whether European or American. Not only that, those websites that are available are very hard, if not impossible to access because they are often scrambled due to the political situation. In some cases, this doesn’t even make sense. For example, gallery of Picasso’s pictures is banned while access to his picture through other websites is allowed.

Often, Chinese present this as a dispute with Google although some Google services, such as Gmail are always available. Main issue is that Gmail is obstructed so in some cases, you need to wait up to 20 Like most of the internet issues, this one is also manageable. You can use VPN or Virtual Private Network to reroute the address. This program hides real IP address from which you are connecting.

With this, foreigner in China can surf in same way he would surf from some other location in the world. But, there is still another problem to be solved. Besides the fact that you need to pay for the program, which isn’t anything special, you also need to establish a proper connection. This can prove to be a challenge because Chinese don’t have Wi-Fi in smaller cities. Then again, even if you find proper Wi-Fi connection, it will be slow. If you wish to use internet from an internet café, you need to have ID card.

So, person visiting China need to have in mind that most of the usual websites available in USA will not be available in China. At the same time, you will need to go to an internet café in order to use internet freely. Good thing about it is that they have these types of cafes all over the place because Chinese are big gaming fans. Also, you should expect something very different when you visit one of these places. They are not only places for entertainment but many people live there as well. You have access to beds, showers, as well as different food. Given how important internet is to all of us, this isn’t surprising. Imagine your life without internet and all the benefits it provides. All of that is good and well if you are a Chinese but have in mind that you still need to have an ID card in order to enter one of these places and use the computer. This in itself can pose insurmountable obstacle. In that regard, you need to be very resourceful and ask for one of the guys present there to borrow you their ID so you can swipe.

Anyway, when visiting China, be prepared to live without internet. This isn’t the friendliest country for people who have internet-based companies so have that in mind as well. Hopefully, this little piece of information will not ruin your visit to China because this country has so much to offer to tourists and it would be a real shame if this would deter you from visiting it.

Nick Stokes has been actively blogging for the past 10 years. He’s an SEO expert at Uptown spa salon in Toronto and has a passion for cars and Internet. Nick likes meeting new people and working with them on different online projects. He’s happily married and has a little girl.

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