Are there certain websites such as Facebook and Twitter that you are unable to access from your computer? Duh, you're in China. There are tons websites that are blocked But, there is a solution on how to visit blocked sites in China, and it's not by asking, "Pretty, please…". So read on.
Though tricks like using the IP address instead of the URL work in places like Vietnam and other countries that aren't that serious about Internet censorship, it's not going to work in China. In the past, sometimes, you would be able to visit blocked sites by changing URLs such as www.moumoumou.com the IP address of the site. You can try it again if you like – When on a local computer, using the ping domain.com command returns the IP address. Put this in the address bar and it might just give you access to the blocked site – but probably not.
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In most cases, the URL that you are trying to access will be banned. Actually, China's been known to ban whole lists of URLs just because they woke up on the wrong side of the bed. But you can try converting them to a shorter URL which will help you bypass the settings. There are short URL services available which can help with this. Again, I haven't had much luck with this.
You can even use Google cache. If you are not bothered that the content isn't latest on a website, you can do a Google search for that particular website. Clicking on the cached link underneath the search results can help you access the blocked site. However, Google and China aren't on the best of terms, and a lot of Google Tools are blocked. Plus, Facebook has been blocked for almost 4 years now, so old sites like this aren't going to get unblocked like this
Another technique I read about the other day is using an online translation tool. Sometimes if you translate sites into lesser known languages that version of the site won't be blocked. However, understanding what's on the site will be a problem.
Another technique that most people have been successful in using is the use of IP anonymizer. You may have heard of proxies, web based proxies, rolling proxies, anonymous proxies, open proxies, or stuff like this. In this technique, you have to access a third party site which redirects your request to the required server. Though open proxies are famous for being free, most of them have been shut down in China. There is one particular service that seems to be doing well, which is SecuriTales. It's a paid service, but I've tried it myself, and it's a very quick way to visit blocked sites in China. There's no setup required, and it'll only cost you $6 a month (36 RMB).
Get their FREE trial HERE
The most secure and guaranteed way is through a VPN service. I won't go into the whole "which VPN is the best to visit blocked sites in China" speech, but, I will tell you that VPNs are very handy. I leave mine on all the time. Most sites will have unlimited bandwidth, or limitations that only affect people that download billions of movies every month. Proxies can be annoying because you have to open up the secure browser each time you want to unblock stuff, and they don't work on software running on your computer or apps running on your phone.
Check out the top 5 VPNs in China (My review), or browse the sites for other stats on VPN services that operate in China.
Blocking access to undesirable websites is common in a number of countries, but China and Saudi Arabia are two countries which have extended greater censorship over the Internet than most other countries. When talking about Saudi Arabia, most of the websites which are blocked include politics, women, religion and even health related sites. Skype is perhaps the most famous blocked site in The Middle East. In China, most of the major social networking sites, porn, anti communist/socialist propaganda and of course free Tibet/Taiwan independence sites are blocked. The most famous blocked sites in China are Facebook and YouTube.
It's kind of a funny phrase, "sites that unblock other sites", but that's just what web based proxies are – a websites you access in order to unblock another site you can't connect to. When you searched for the term"sites that unblock other sites", you were probably looking for a web based proxy – the official term. While there are other ways to change your IP address and access restricted websites, web based proxies are the type which you can access directly from your Internet browser and require no installation. If you want to look into IP changing tools that can be installed, you should read more about .png)
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A proxy server is specialized computer or server for computer users. There are many different uses of proxies, but they all fall under the general idea of freedom of anonymous and private web browsing. Many employers set up some technical restrictions in their computers so that their employees cannot access sites such as Facebook during office hours. Some colleges and universities also put up some restrictive measures to block access to websites they consider inappropriate. To access Facebook in these places, you will need to have a Facebook proxy that works properly.
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It was not hard to break the firewall of China to access my favorite sites – not just YouTube. Did you know that Flikr is blocked now too? And even some of my friends blogs from back home – just because of their association with Google..jpg)
The Problem
Web Based Proxies
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I'm just some guy with a blog about China – heck, you might not even be in China. But if you're looking for a Facebook proxy site that works, there's really nothing better than SecuriTales. Think about all that time you'd waste looking for a reliable, fast, and free proxy – isn't it better to just pay 1.5 cents and start now?
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