I will be travelling to China for two weeks at the end of the month.
Which VPN actually works well currently in China? I was about to subscribe in both Express and Nord but I’ve read recent comments online that they are both no longer working there.
There’s the option to set up your own VPN before you leave. If the services are being blocked, it’s likely because they are blocking their IPs. So a connection to a private VPN might work. You can also try something like tor, though they may be blocking tor nodes too.
The most important thing is verifying the laws there permit the use of VPN technologies by civilians. You don’t want to get detained someplace like China.
I traveled to China for 3 weeks for business a couple years ago. I set up my own vpn on a VPS under a domain i owned. IIRC i used openvpn AS as it was straightforward install on ubuntu with the option of running the service on port 443 (https so less likely to be immediately blocked)
Vpn is probably tolerated for foreigners and people working for foreign companies - but you might get in trouble if you share or sell your vpn access with locals. The great firewall catches on pretty quick anyway and your vpn connection is going to end up throttled after a few weeks.
Edit: do prepare before arriving in China, even ssh is excruciatingly slow when it works, so don’t expect to be able to do much from inside.
China is a bittersweet place
On one hand, I’m typing this on a phone made in China
On the other, human rights are so fucked up there
Oddly enough, the industries and companies that make up the items in your phone, are responsible for a great deal of those human rights violations.
Moral of story, don’t buy items made via abuse.
That limits the things you can buy to virtually nothing. I guarantee that a good amount of anything you own, or at least part of it, is made in China or similar places with human rights violations. Many big corporations also make items via abuse. Your point is moot.
Unfortunately, that’s impossible unless you live in an offline commune or a cave.