Currently, around 10,000 domains are blocked in China by their government’s Internet censorship policy. Along with Google, YouTube, Facebook, and others, WhatsApp has also been affected since it was banned in September 2017. This means that no one from China can use any of these services. This includes people visiting the country.
If you need to use WhatsApp while in China, there is a solution to this and it comes in the form of VPN services. You can hide your current geographic location using Virtual Private Networks. This allows you to access restricted content on the Internet using servers in other countries.
What Kind of VPN Do You Need?
Although there are many different VPN providers, not all of them allow encryption strength and stability high enough to let you through the Great Firewall of China. With that in mind, it’s clear that free VPNs are definitely not for the job.
Those with the power to break through this firewall come with serious programming and infrastructure behind them. Achieving this requires significant expense, so you will have to pay for one of these services to unblock WhatsApp in China.
Which VPNs Can You Use?
With so many VPNs available today, it’s important to choose the right one for the job. In the sections below, you’ll find a trio of the most popular VPNs that are powerful enough to bypass this firewall. You can also use them for downloading torrents or entertaining yourself while watching content via popular streaming platforms, meanwhile, disguise your identity well.
ExpressVPN
With 3000+ servers operating worldwide and world-class encryption, ExpressVPN is the top choice for millions of users. It comes with a ton of advanced security features and allows you to bypass even the most severe geo-restrictions. This way you can get through any firewall filters, especially difficult ones like those in China.
ExpressVPN is also lightning fast and allows for smooth browsing without any glitches. Because it keeps no logs, there will be no data to point your way, even if ExpressVPN’s integrity is compromised. This turned out to be true when the Turkish government seized one of its servers.
Using obfuscation servers, this VPN will mask all traffic passing through your ISP. In this way, there is no way to tell whether you are using a VPN or not. Along with all this, ExpressVPN also prevents DNS and webRTC leaks, ensuring that no one knows which sites you visit or your IP address.
When it comes to China’s firewall, ExpressVPN has it surrounded by servers located in nearby countries. This includes South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India and Pakistan. This way, using WhatsApp in China is a simple matter of installing a VPN on any of your devices.
NordVPN
Just like ExpressVPN, this one has a large number of servers around the world and over 100 servers from neighboring countries surrounding China. With military-grade encryption and many other security features like a kill switch, Double VPN, or DNS leak prevention, NordVPN lets you use WhatsApp in China within seconds. Also, there are no logs kept, so don’t worry there either.
With super stable connection at high Internet speeds, you can even use NordVPN to watch your favorite movies and TV shows while in China. This includes services like HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime or Amazon Prime Video. And if you want to do some torrenting, this VPN lets you do that too.
surf shark
Thanks to its camouflage mode, Surfshark ensures that your IP address is always hidden. Along with military-grade encryption, Surfshark also brings MultiHop option that allows you to connect to different servers in multiple countries at the same time. This will definitely ensure that no one reveals your true location.
Like the other two VPNs mentioned above, Surfshark protects you from any DNS and IP address leaks. It also keeps no logs of your traffic so you are safe from being detected at any point. Unlike ExpressVPN or NordVPN, which allow you to use up to five or six simultaneous connections respectively, Surfshark allows you to connect an unlimited number of devices simultaneously.
Bypassing the Great Firewall of China
Using any of these VPNs will allow you to chat with your friends from China via WhatsApp and keep your identity well protected at all times. Besides WhatsApp, you can also access blocked websites and services that the Chinese government has decided to put behind huge firewalls.
Did you manage to access WhatsApp from China? Which VPN did you use for this? Please share your experiences in the comments section below.
