The Chinese government imposes heavy censorship on internet use within the country. These restrictions are known collectively as China’s Great Firewall, and they present a real problem to travelers and expats staying or living in China. However, you can bypass the Great Firewall with a Virtual Private Network (VPN) like ExpressVPN. Today, we’ll explain Chinese internet blocking in more detail, and show how to use ExpressVPN safely in China.

The internet censorship policy is nothing new; most countries block access to websites that host illegal material, for instance. That said, China’s restrictions are numerous and far-reaching. Social media sites and messaging apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp are blocked, so it’s hard to stay in touch with friends and family in other countries. Further, with dissenting opinions readily quashed online and major western news sites inaccessible, it’s challenging to find unbiased information about the wider world.

There is a workaround though: by signing up to a working VPN service before you travel, you can beat China’s Great Firewall and access blocked sites. These services work by encrypting your traffic and routing it through international server networks. The benefits are twofold: you gain access to sites that are usually blocked in China and your activities become almost impossible for your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the government to monitor.

How can ExpressVPN beat Chinese internet restrictions?

Why use ExpressVPN in China?

ExpressVPN is a strong choice for internet users in China for numerous reasons. Firstly, it’s very fast and offers access to more than 3,000 VPN servers across 94 different countries. Second, it has excellent multi-platform support, and even includes custom firmware to make installing it on network routers as simple as possible.

This service takes information security seriously. It uses 256-bit AES encryption, perfect forward secrecy, and protection against DNS, IPv6, and WebRTC leaks to keep your online activities private at all times. There’s also an internet kill switch protection feature (desktop only) that immediately stops all traffic if your VPN connection drops suddenly. Best of all, ExpressVPN doesn’t log any personally identifiable information. It even allows you to pay in Bitcoin for increased anonymity. Standard payment methods are available also.

GET EXPRESSVPN FREE: Usually, VPNs save their lowest prices for users willing to commit to a year or more upfront. However, if you only need short-term coverage, you can use ExpressVPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee instead. This does require an immediate payment, but you can cancel at any point to get a full refund, effectively allowing you to try it for free.

Read our full ExpressVPN review.

How to use ExpressVPN in China

One of the best things about ExpressVPN is that there are no special steps required to connect in China. Just choose your preferred VPN server connection as normal and you should be able to browse the web freely. However, the ExpressVPN website is currently blocked in China. As a result, we strongly recommend registering and installing the service before you travel to the country.

Because China monitors its citizens’ internet connections so closely, there are a couple of steps we recommend taking before you connect for the first time. To begin with, we’re going to make sure ExpressVPN automatically connects your device to the VPN whenever it’s turned on. From the main page, click the menu icon (three lines) in the top-left, then choose Options.

Under the General tab, enable the first two options. This will ensure you never accidentally browse without protection. If you’re using a desktop version of the app, we also recommend enabling Stop all internet traffic if the VPN disconnects unexpectedly.

Next, move across to the Advanced tab and make sure the IPv6 leak protection and DNS options are checked. When you’re done, click OK.

Now you’re free to connect as you normally would. To do this, return to the home screen and click the large button in the middle. This will automatically connect you to the best server for your current location. You can also choose a specific country to connect to by clicking the Choose Location button, and picking one from the list on the right. As you can see ExpressVPN takes your online security seriously, perhaps one of the reasons it still works in China and is reliable.

Why does China restrict the internet so heavily?

In theory, China’s internet restrictions are supposed to protect citizens from material that could corrupt, divide, mislead, or incite hatred. The problem is that ideas are open to interpretation but only the Chinese government decides which content falls under what category. As such, the Great Firewall is regularly used as a tool to silence political opponents and those with dissenting opinions.

It doesn’t help that the relevant legislation (Computer Information Network and Internet Security, Protection, and Management Regulations, 1997) is ambiguously worded and seems designed to give the government as many ways as possible to censor content. For example, anyone who posts content critical of the government (even if it’s a balanced news article) could be guilty of  “inciting division,” “openly insulting other people,” “injuring the reputation of state organs,” or “activities against the constitution.” Further, with rumors forbidden entirely, even lower-stakes activities like discussing celebrity news online could be considered a crime.

What kind of services are blocked in China?

It’s not only political content that China forbids access to. Although there’s no comprehensive list of every blocked website, recent estimates suggest around 10,000 domains are currently inaccessible from the mainland. Take a look below for a list of some of the content China blocks:

  • Messaging services (WhatsApp, Gmail, Slack, Telegram)
  • Social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)
  • Streaming platforms (YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, Spotify)
  • News sites (The Guardian, BBC, NYTimes)
  • Search engines (Google, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo)
  • VPN and proxy-related sites (tutorials, configuration guides)
  • Cloud-storage (Google Drive, Google Docs, Mega, Dropbox)
  • Information repositories (Wikipedia, Quora, Archive)

How good is ExpressVPN’s connection speed?

When it comes to internet speed, ExpressVPN is actually one of the best around. It averaged 135 Mbps in our most recent tests, which is more than fast enough for uninterrupted browsing, streaming, or torrenting. For context, Netflix recommends download speeds of 25 Mbps for watching 4K content. In short, even if multiple people are using your network at the same time, you shouldn’t run into any issues.

Does ExpressVPN offer unlimited bandwidth?

ExpressVPN provides completely unlimited bandwidth and doesn’t throttle your speeds at all. As such, it’s an excellent choice for anyone who regularly does data-intensive activities like torrenting or watching Ultra-HD video.

Which operating systems does ExpressVPN support?

ExpressVPN offers a user-friendly Windows app, but that’s far from the only platform it supports. There are also apps for MacOS, Linux, iOS devices, and Android. Here’s the best part: the mobile apps preserve most of the functionality of the desktop versions. This means that if you connect using the Android app, you’ll be just as secure as if you were on your main PC.

It’s also possible to manually install this service on your home router thanks to ExpressVPN’s custom firmware. This just received a huge update that increased its speeds and stability. If you haven’t already tried it out, now’s the time!

Do any other VPNs work in China?

The Chinese government has put a lot of effort into stopping VPNs from providing a way around their internet restrictions. Further, we’ve heard from some services that local ISPs are blocking them of their own accord. As such, there aren’t many VPN services that still work in China, and even fewer that are reliable.

Currently, the only services that we know work reliably in China are ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, VyprVPN, Hotspot Shield, PrivateVPN, and Astrill. However, as the main website for each of these services is currently blocked, you’ll have to find a working mirror site in order to sign up when in China. As these mirrors can also become inaccessible, we strongly advise you to register before visiting the country.  

Although ExpressVPN and the other services listed above work reliably in China, we recommend keeping a note of your VPN’s mirror sites, support email addresses, and manual configuration instructions for your device, just in case. You’ll be unable to access anything stored in the cloud, so it’s best to keep a copy of this information on a password-protected device.

If there’s any doubt, the best thing to do is ask your VPN provider for advice ahead of your visit to China. It’d be a smart idea to store a copy of the manual setup instructions somewhere safe too, just in case you can’t use the mobile apps once you arrive.

There’s no need to worry, though: ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, and its own website states that “ExpressVPN’s leadership team and owners are not involved in any other VPN company/brand or any business other than ExpressVPN.” Those owners are also identifiable with a quick Google search: Peter Burchhardt and Dan Pomerantz, two Wharton graduates who founded ExpressVPN in 2009. In other words, no, ExpressVPN is not a Chinese company.

Further, it’s possible to pay in Bitcoin, or register with a disposable email address, in case you’d like to increase your anonymity even further.

Last but not least, ExpressVPN uses RAM-only servers, so all data is wiped every time they reboot. In short, even if the Chinese government were to seize ExpressVPN’s Hong Kong-based servers, it’d be unable to find any useful information on the service’s users.

Since that time, the government has blocked access to any VPNs that have not registered with the government to get an official license. As a result, it can be very hard to connect to VPN websites in order to take out a subscription. This includes accessing ExpressVPN’s website from China.

Despite this crackdown on technologies that allow people to bypass the great firewall of China, very few individuals have been singled out for using VPNs. Instead, the government focuses on targeting companies that provide those services, with a view to fining them for allowing individuals to bypass the government-imposed censorship.

Due to the fact that ExpressVPN can be used to bypass China’s strict website blocks, it almost certainly falls into the government’s restricted list. And, while the government has not targeted individuals en masse for bypassing its blocks, it is possible that they could do so in the future. 

In January of 2021, for example, the Shanghai firm Wintao Law published an article that warned that “individual VPN users should be cautious, as there are legal risks to bypassing the wall for whatever reason.”

Ultimately, whether you might get in trouble with the law depends on what you decide to use a VPN for. Bypassing China’s firewall to access restricted news and services, or to engage in crimes that harm national security could be considered illegal, and in 2019 a precedent was set in which an individual from Shaoguan, Guangdong province was fined 1,000 yuan ($146) for using a VPN app to access foreign services.

As ExpressVPN is known to be able to successfully bypass government blocks imposed by the great firewall, it seems fair to note that it is one of the more restricted VPN services that users can get their hands on. For more information on the legal situation, check our guide. 

Note: Comparitech does not provide legal advice. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice and you should always do your own research before using a VPN. 

First, you will need to purchase a compatible router with ExpressVPN.

Second, you will need to sign up for an account with ExpressVPN outside of China.

Once you have done so, you will then be able to download the necessary software and instructions from their website.

Finally, you will need to follow the instructions carefully to configure your router correctly. Doing so should allow you to use ExpressVPN on your router in China without any issues.

In other words, these services are in a never-ending game of cat and mouse, with the government trying to block every workaround and VPN providers continously finding new ones. For what it’s worth, VPNs seem to be winning – despite the huge amount of time and resources China has poured into this censorship project, there are still a variety of well-known VPNs that still allow unrestricted access to the wider internet.