VPNs are great. What’s not great is that you HAVE TO have one to do basically anything in China. You really do. Don’t let anyone tell you you don’t need one.
They call it the “Great Firewall” which I think is hilarious, but it also sucks. No Facebook, no Google anything, no Twitter, no Instagram, they recently even blocked Wikipedia! WhatsApp is touch and go though.
You can get by with free ones if you’re only there for a little while, but it really sucks to forget that you can’t access something you need.
If you have the space on your phone- I recommend downloading 4 or 5 free VPNs to try out. When I was there I had a paid VPN, but the one that connected the fastest and stayed connected the best was a free one called Turbo, it has since been blocked and no longer works though. Some of the free ones I still use are secure VPN, Ultimate VPN, and Betternet. As far as I know, Betternet is the only free one you can get on a computer. I can’t give any advice on what free VPNs are currently working in China because it is so time sensitive, but just check your app store and download a few of the best rated ones BEFORE YOU GO.
If you do end up in China and none of your VPNs are working, you aren’t completely out of luck yet. But you do need to get into Hong Kong. Once you’re across the border you can get access to WiFi and download a few more.
The big guy paid VPNs that really fight against the firewall are Express VPN and Nord VPN, but I have heard better things about Express. (One other nice thing about Express is it’s the only one that can be installed on a Firestick.) You really should pay for a VPN if you’re planning to be in China longer than a couple of weeks. I chose Express, and my only complaints was that it sometimes took a really long time to connect. I can’t tell you how long I spent staring at the loading screen for Express.
Finding Eden 