Internet and VPN in China

What is blocked, and what is not

Almost everything owned by Meta and Google is unreachable on a Chinese network: WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube. Most Western news sites are blocked too, along with many cloud services people rely on for work.

A great deal is not blocked, and it covers most of what a visitor actually needs. Apple Maps and Bing work, as do Booking.com, Trip.com, most airline apps and Apple's own iMessage. Chinese apps such as WeChat, Alipay and Didi work perfectly, because they were built here.

The useful rule of thumb: if it is a Western social platform or a Google product, assume it is blocked. If it is a Chinese app or an international booking site, assume it works.

• Blocked: WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube.
• Working: Apple Maps, Bing, Booking.com, Trip.com, most airline and rail booking apps.
• Working and essential: WeChat, Alipay and Didi, the Chinese ride-hailing app.

Three ways to get online: roaming, eSIM, local SIM

There are three realistic options, and they behave very differently, because the route your data takes is what decides which apps you can open.

International roaming keeps your home SIM active and often routes your traffic back through your home operator. In many cases that means WhatsApp and Google simply work, with no VPN needed. The catch is the cost of data abroad, which is steep unless your plan includes a roaming bundle for China.

A travel eSIM is the middle path: you install a data plan for China before you fly and activate it on landing. Many of them also route traffic outside the mainland, so the same familiar apps keep working. It is cheap, you keep your home number for calls, and there is nothing to queue for at the airport.

A local Chinese SIM gives you the cheapest data by a wide margin, but it puts you squarely on the Chinese network: everything blocked is blocked, and a VPN is required on top. Buying one also means a passport registration at the operator's shop, which costs time on arrival.

• Roaming — easiest, familiar apps often work, usually the most expensive.
• Travel eSIM — cheap, installed before you fly, often routes around the firewall, keeps your home number.
• Local SIM — cheapest data, full firewall, needs a passport and a shop visit.

Why the VPN has to be installed before you fly

If you want to use the blocked apps on hotel or cafe wifi, you need a VPN, and the crucial detail is that you have to install, sign in and test it at home, before departure.

VPN providers' websites and app-store pages are themselves blocked inside China, so you cannot download or subscribe once you are there. Land without one and you are stuck with whatever you managed to prepare.

Install two different apps from two different providers. Outages happen, and having a backup turns a frustrating afternoon into a non-event. Switch both on and confirm they connect while you are still on your home network, then pack the phone exactly as it is.

Hotel wifi, honestly

Every hotel we use has wifi, and in the big cities it is fast. What varies is whether it reaches the blocked apps: a handful of hotels route traffic in a way that lets Google and WhatsApp through, most do not.

The connection is usually free, but you will often be asked to log in on a captive page with a room number and surname. In smaller towns the signal can be weak in the room even when the lobby is fine.

Treat hotel wifi as a backup for maps and messaging through Chinese apps, not as the foundation of your plan. Your eSIM or roaming is the reliable layer underneath; the wifi sits on top of it.

The apps you will actually use every day

For a week, forget the apps you use at home. The practical toolkit for China is small, and everything on it works.

• WeChat — messaging, and the way guides, hotels and drivers will reach you.
• Alipay or WeChat Pay — link an international card and pay by QR code almost everywhere.
• Didi — ride-hailing in English, with the fare agreed before the car arrives.
• A translation app with the Chinese pack downloaded for offline use.
• Trip.com or your rail app for trains, plus a VPN for everything else.

Paying for things without cash

China has largely moved to QR payments, and this is the single biggest practical change for a visitor. Alipay and WeChat Pay both accept international cards now, and setting one of them up before you travel saves a lot of fumbling at a till.

Cash is still legal tender and small shops will take it, but plenty of stalls and ticket machines expect a QR code. Carry a little cash for the rare case, and make one of the two wallets your default.

Staying reachable when it matters

The one thing worth sorting out before you fly is how people reach you if something goes wrong. Most families settle on WeChat, because it works regardless of the firewall, and then share the number with anyone at home who might need it.

If you travel with us, this is handled for you. ChinaTour.es, the English-language site of the JoyoTour group, keeps a single WhatsApp thread open for the whole trip and runs a 24/7 emergency line, so there is always someone awake to pick up if a flight moves or a plan changes.

JoyoTour has been designing tailor-made trips since 1999 and runs its own ground team in China, which is why the same number that answers a planning question in the morning also answers at two in the morning on the road.

A five-minute checklist before departure

None of this takes long, and doing it the night before you fly avoids the classic mistake of arriving connected to nothing.

• Subscribe to and install two VPN apps, and log in to both.
• Install a travel eSIM, or confirm that your roaming bundle covers China.
• Download offline maps and an offline translation pack.
• Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a card, and test a small payment.
• Install WeChat and swap numbers with anyone at home who needs to reach you.