How To Get On Social Media in China

In case you haven’t heard, all of your favorite social media websites and apps are most likely banned in China: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and the lists goes on. So, how will you survive while traveling throughout China if you can’t post a picture of yourself at the Great Wall to make all of your friends jealous? And how will your family know you’re still alive?Here are some solutions I found on how to get on social media in China (shhh don’t tell)….

Set Up A VPN Before You Leave

For this option, you will need a computer set up in another country that your laptop can connect to. You can find detailed instructions on what to do next here.

Forewarning: without a good internet connection, you will not be able to VPN in even if you do set this up. This is why I had to resort to the following…

VPN App

You can download a VPN or Proxy app for free from the app store. However, some of them won’t work or may block you from the internet (from my experience) so you may need to download a couple and use the process of elimination to see which ones will work. After a few failed attempts, I downloaded VPN Dragon, which actually worked perfectly.

Add Gmail account through the Mail app beforehand

Gmail won’t load through the Gmail app, so forget that. But, if you add your gmail account to the “mail” app on your phone, Gmail should work through that loophole.

Top of the Financial Tower in Shanghai

I was surprised when I went to the bar at the top of the Financial Tower (floor 92) and got all of my social media notifications. Somehow everything is allowed here, but you will pay for it in drinks.

Address: Building 1, No.100 Century Ave, Pudong New Area, Shanghai

Free Proxies

A proxy is a website, usually based in a different location, that will let you access other sites through it. Here is a list of free proxies for you to try. This method is tricky since China continuously finds these proxies and blocks them too.