PSA
There was a comment a couple months ago now I think about people concerned that VPNs no longer worked in China.
I traveled in China for several weeks over the lunar new year last month and tested proton, Nord, astrill, and a few random small ones I found off the chinese-accessible internet via Baidu without a vpn, and all of them work fine with the exception of one rabbit one that stated it refused to work in China.
But if anyone had any lingering concerns about the viability of using a VPN in China, they all worked fine, and the three big ones I mentioned worked fine all day every day, the smaller ones disconnected after an hour or so and then you would have to reconnect.
But they all worked, even over the holidays when the government is supposed to crack down on VPNs.
Right now there’s a party committee going on for a few days so vpns are supposed to be shut off, but my friend is using a VPN in China and sent me messages from Gmail, which is inaccessible in China without a VPN, to let me know that they’re still working.
Corollary PSA, my tickets from NY to Hong Kong were 274 bucks last month one-way, so prices are pretty crazy low right now, or at least they were several weeks ago.
Oh cool. Specifically, Astrill and proton worked fine as of April, although it would be smart to get the programs on at least one device or have the apks on file before they head over there because it’s difficult to download them from within the Chinese net.
If necessary, there’s a VPN they can search for on Baidu within china called green VPN; that one will at least sporadically work and allow your friend to download their choice of more robust options.