The Chinese government has made a very interesting decision years ago, and that was to create an ultimate firewall that’ll isolate their websites from the “outside world”. Chinese websites are staying within, outside world’s websites are out, and the Great Firewall of China stands strongly between the two. It is for this reason that everyone who is outside of China’s borders and wishes to access their websites needs their IP address.
This is a problem that can only be solved through the use of Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs for short. VPNs work by connecting you to a server located in a certain region, or country. This means that it’ll provide you with an IP from that region, and the internet will believe that you’ve connected from there.
This process is the only way for anyone outside of countries like China to get access to their isolated sites. Now, keep in mind that China usually builds their walls for a reason and that this wouldn’t exactly be approved by its leaders. This is why they’ve worked hard on blocking as many VPNs as they could, which makes choosing a right one the most important part of the process.
The best VPN for China
Right now, we have four different VPNs to recommend, when it comes to getting access to Chinese servers, and via them, to Chinese IP addresses. Those are:
1. TorGuard
2. IPVanish
3. PIA
4. GhostVPN
Accessing Chinese websites can be very important for many, including people who are on vacation, as well as businessmen who are on important business trips, and need access to their home-based websites. This way, they can access their bank accounts or Renren. Having a Chinese IP is also important to those who wish to buy products directly from Chinese manufacturers. First, let’s learn how to get a Chinese IP, and then we’ll take a closer look on the VPNs that we’ve mentioned earlier.
How to get Chinese IP address
We know that the process might sound complicated and difficult if you’re new when it comes to this sort of thing, but it’s really very easy. You just need to follow these steps:
- Go to a VPN website and create an account. We’ve recommended the VPNs that you should use already, and bellow you might find more information about them, but for now, this is step one.
- Download and install VPN’s application
- Log into the app, and choose a server based in China
- You can now freely navigate Chinese websites, no matter where you are in the world.
The four best VPNs for China
TorGuard
TorGuard is one of the best VPNs out there, not only when it comes to our current problem, but for everything else as well. It offers strong encryption, it has an amazing number of servers, it’s fast, easy to work with, and it keeps no logging policy. This is an extremely reliable VPN, and also one with the greatest number of features that you’ll find. It even offers stealth servers, which are guaranteed to let you bypass the Firewall. You even have a seven-day money return policy, so that you can check it out and decide if you like it or not. It offers five different devices at the same time, so yes, our first recommendation is definitely this VPN. One of the BEST reasons we recommend it is due to Stealth VPN.
IPVanish
In the second place, we’ve put IPVanish. This is another great VPN that offers many of the same perks that TorGuard does, including the strong encryption, lots of servers, no logging policy, and even money-back guarantee and several simultaneous connections. However, what’s really special about this one is its speed. TorGuard really is fast, but IPVanish has specialized in having great speeds, and that makes it perfect if you need streaming, downloading, or P2P file sharing, including torrenting. And yes, it allows torrenting, just like all the rest VPNs on this list, which is not something that every VPN does.
PIA
Private Internet Access, or PIA, is our third choice, and the cheapest VPN on this list. It’s cheap because of its minimal interface, which is often described as a barebone. On the other hand, it clearly values simplicity, followed by an amazing quality, and it’s so good that it rivals the rest on this list without any problem. The encryption is great, the speeds are among the best, there’s zero logging, and it has a lot of servers in a lot of different countries, including China. So, if you’re looking for a simple, but still very useful VPN, then PIA is the best one for you.
GhostVPN
Last but not least, GhostVPN is our final pick. It’s the youngest one on the list, but that isn’t stopping it from being among the best, and it still only reached only a fraction of its full potential. Its crew is working hard to develop it to its limits, and this can be seen in what they’ve already accomplished. This VPNs speed is great for anything you might want to do, it has tons of servers across the globe, a very strong encryption, allows torrenting, has a money-back policy, and it doesn’t keep logs. Just like the previous ones, it has a customer service that’s available at any time, but it’s extremely easy to handle, and there have been no major troubles with it, so you might not even need them. If you go for GhostVPN, you definitely won’t regret it, since its only downside is that it doesn’t have a mobile app. This is only for now though, and the team is working hard on making that available as well.
Choose a VPN, and download and install the app
When you make your pick, go to its website, and create an account. It’s easy to do it, and you shouldn’t have trouble with doing so. You will have to provide a method of payment, and luckily, all of the ones we mentioned accept PayPal, Bitcoin, credit cards and many other ways of payment. If you decide to take an annual subscription, you’ll save up a lot of money, so we recommend doing so. Remember, even if you don’t need it to access China for the entire year, using VPNs is the safest way to browse the web, so we recommend doing it anyway.
Upon creating your account, you’ll be able to download the application, which will be downloaded quickly, and installing it is simple enough as well. Just pick the software for the platform that you’ll be using it on.
Now, when it comes to choosing an encryption protocol, which is a next step in setting up your VPN, we recommend OpenVPN protocol, so make sure to choose this one in your VPN’s settings. This will keep you secure, and if you have any questions or problems, simply contact the customer support.
Connect to a Chinese server
Now that you’ve successfully downloaded, installed and set up your app, launch it. You’ll get the screen that’ll offer you s list of servers to choose from. Simply pick the one in China, and Connect. Once you’ve connected to it, you can do whatever you wish on any of the Chinese websites. It’s literally that easy to do all of this.
The possible dangers
We’re sure that your need to quickly get access to geo-restricted content is great and important, and we’ve made sure to recommend software that’ll provide you with the best service. However, if you dislike our picks, you can always try and explore on your own, and find a different VPN.
Keep in mind that there are many of them out there, and that number is greater than 800 different providers. Many are outdated and very unsafe. Some will even log and sell your data to third parties, and this is especially true for all of the free ones, since they need to find a way to earn money, and since they’re free and you’re not paying them, someone else will (and ask for your data in return).
What makes a good VPN for accessing China
With the restrictions like the ones in China, you’ll need your VPN to provide you with several things. Strong encryption and a Chinese server are the two most important ones. Good speed is another, otherwise, everything you do will be very slow, and it might not even be possible to work with low speeds, much less enjoyable. So basically, the bare essentials that your VPN needs to provide are a good speed, strong encryption, and a server in China itself.
With those few things, you’ll be able to access everything that countries like China offer, as long as you’re connected to a server that’s located in those countries. The VPNs that we’ve mentioned earlier have servers in a lot of countries around the world, and you can access all of their restricted content simply by connecting to their server.
A quick warning as well
If you remember, we’ve mentioned in the beginning of this guide that China has started blocking many VPNs. The worst has happened to those that were based in China itself, but the ones from the outside still work, at least the ones that we’ve mentioned here. Still, with a possibility of VPNs getting blocked at any time, you should be careful when you choose which one to use, and it’s probably best not to use annual subscriptions if you’ll need access to China during that entire time.
Conclusion
We know that many users need to access other countries’ websites for various purposes. This is why we’ve carefully considered every aspect of VPN deals, and recommended the four best ones that’ll be able to do the job, and still, provide you with good speed and as best privacy policies that could be found. They’re also not that expensive, which makes them affordable as well. In the end, the choice is yours, but when it comes to our recommendations, This is how you get access to Chinese internet with the best experience possible.
