One of the most common questions I receive about VPNs (or “Virtual Private Network”) is this: Is it legal to use a VPN in China? Since China censors the internet using the “Great Firewall of China” to keep people inside the country from accessing different websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Gmail, etc., it’s no wonder that some of the best VPNs are most popular in China.
The question isn’t popularity, though, it’s legality. Is it illegal to use a VPN in China? Let’s discuss this a little bit and figure out what is right and what is wrong because it’s clearly not a black and white issue.
UPDATE JULY 2019: There has been a lot of talk about VPNs in China these last two years due to the fact that China threatened to ban all VPNs starting in April 2018 and then took the step to remove all VPN apps from China’s Apple store. Seems ominous, right?
Historically, China tends to talk big on these type of things. As I’ll describe below, the legality of a VPN in China is questionable but for now, I can still consistently connect to my favorite VPN.
*Note*: Some of the links in the article below are affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you, I may be compensated should you decide to use the services. I only recommend these services because I’ve used them myself and they work! Thank you for your support.
Why Doesn’t China Block VPNs?
Obviously, everybody knows that within China the use of a VPN is pretty important if you want to access blocked websites (not sure what a VPN is? Watch this visual explanation of VPNs). So why doesn’t China just stop the use of all VPNs altogether? Every year I hear a news story about how China has clamped down on the use of VPNs and it seems silly that they don’t just cut off VPNs altogether.
Considering all of the different websites and apps that are blocked in China, it should be easy to block VPNs as well.
Why haven’t they?
The answer is quite simple. The reason is because VPNs are a necessary part of doing business, particularly for international companies in China. VPNs are what keep the information that companies transmit between China and the rest of the world secure. International companies will use VPNs on a daily basis, so if China were to shut down all VPNs, it would severely affect the ability for companies – both domestic and foreign – to do business in China.
Individual VPNs vs Corporate VPNs in China
As an individual though, there’s a lot of gray area as to whether or not it’s legal to use a VPN. In places like Tibet and Xinjiang, which are politically sensitive areas in China, there have been reports that locals have been put in prison for using a VPN. Fortunately for you, none of those reports have ever mentioned a foreigner getting in trouble for using a VPN while in China.
There was a news report published in early 2017 that talked about China really clamping down and making it illegal to use a VPN. A lot of fuss was made about this news report.
What people didn’t read was the fact that China was being very directive towards businesses that use VPNs illegally. You see, when businesses use a VPN they have to get clearance from the government to do so. They can’t just use a VPN because it’s necessary for business, they have to get approvals from the authorities in China in order to create and use a VPN.
As for individuals, this rule didn’t **technically** apply to them. We as individuals still have the right to be getting on a VPN. Now, I say we have the right. At any point in time, China can change their minds, and they have done so in the past, making trouble for foreigners who use a Virtual Private Network.
What Would China Do if I Use a VPN?
One example of possible retribution occurred in Xinjiang at the end of 2015. The authorities in Xinjiang decided to shut down the cell phone service of any person, foreign or local, who was using VPN. One day while I was using my phone, all of the sudden it stopped working.
I couldn’t make phone calls. I couldn’t text. For days I would add money to my phone trying to figure out why it wasn’t working.
When I brought it to my cell service provider they told me it had been shut down by the police and that I was required to go to the police in order to get it reinstated. What happened next shocked me. The police took my phone and proceeded to go through all of my apps and VPN services, telling me which ones needed to be deleted before we were able to unlock our phone.
Now, keep this in mind: I did not get in trouble. Nobody that I know of went to jail. This did not go on our record. All they did was make it extremely inconvenient for us to use our VPN. Once I got my phone back, I’ll be honest…I reinstalled my VPN, and I reinstalled Skype and a couple of other apps that they had told me to get rid of.
I am still able to use these, and it’s very hard for them to legislate the use of a lot of these things, but they’re going to continue to just make it so annoying that you don’t want to. It’s what they’ve already done and what I’m guessing that they’ll continue to do.
You may read about China issuing fines for using a VPN, but again, this is only for local Chinese people and has never happened to a foreign expat in China.
#1 Recommended VPN for China
As you can tell, I still use a VPN every day while living here in China. I connect on my phone. I connect on my computer, I connect on my iPad. Heck, I even connect to a VPN on my Amazon Fire Stick for my TV!
Over the 10 years that I’ve lived here, I’ve tried dozens and dozens of different VPNs and I can confidently say that the most reliable and consistent VPN has been ExpressVPN. It’s easy to use but even more importantly, their focus on the China market means that it’s the one VPN that has worked consistently when others have been shut down at times.
If I’ve been able to put your mind at ease about the legality of VPNs in China and you’re looking for a recommended VPN to use, definitely check out ExpressVPN. If you use the link here, they’ll even give you a bonus 3 months free!
Conclusion | Is it Legal to use a VPN in China?
So…is it legal to use a VPN in China? It’s a gray area. As a foreigner, you’re not going to get in big trouble using a VPN. You just might have a lot of annoyances in life because they’re going to make it hard for you to do so but you can be assured that at least VPNs still work in China.
One thing I will say here that is important to note: Just as China makes life hard for people who use VPNs, they also make it hard for VPNs to do business in China. That’s why it’s incredibly important to use a VPN that has dedicated resources to out-maneuvering China’s internet censors.
As mentioned above, I’ve found a lot of success using ExpressVPN (use this link to get 3 months of FREE service) as well as NordVPN (use this link to get 3 years of service for the price of 1), but there are a number of great VPNs for China that might work better where you’ll be visiting or living.
%20is,%20Is%20it%20legal%20to%20use%20a%20VPN%20in%20China?%20Since%20China%20censors%20the%20internet%20via%20the%20%E2%80%9CGreat%20Firewall%20of%20China%E2%80%9D%20to%20keep%20people%20inside%20the%20country%20from%20accessing%20websites%20like%20Facebook,%20Twitter,%20Google,%20Gmail,%20etc.,%20it%E2%80%99s%20no%20wonder%20people%20want%20to%20know%20if%20it%20is%20legal.%20%7C%20Travel%20China%20Cheaper%20%7C%20China%20Travel%20Guide%20%7C%20VPN%20in%20China%20%7C%20Expat%20in%20China%20%7C%20China%20Travel%20Blogger%20%7C%20Asia%20Travel%20Guide%20%23China%20%23chinatravel%20%23travelChina%0A)
Hi josh,
Thank you for your post. It’s great! Really useful for me as i’ll be moving to luoyang city in september to work as a teacher. Perhaps you can tell me if it’s possible to get hold of any clothing or cosmetics brands you would normally find in the us or eu SUPERMARKETS? Just curious as i could not find any information about this on the net.
I’m glad it was useful! For a rundown of what is and isn’t available to purchase for foreigners in a Chinese supermarket, check out my checklist for packing a trip to China article.
What about hotel Wi-Fi I’m currently staying in a hotel in
Guiyang for a week and moblie roming is to expensive is a vpn safe on wifi or will they be able to find me or will the hotel get cross at me I’m here on a school trip so don’t want to make the teachers mad.
I use a VPN on hotel WiFi all the time. No need to worry!
My daughter went to china and did not know about the vpn. Now she wants to get one is it possible to get a vpn code in china?
It’s possible but it’s difficult. If she can download the software perhaps you can buy the service and send her the login details?
I’m in china right now, I downloaded expressVPN and vpn360 here, LOL!!!
Do you know how I her my business Authorised to use vpn in china, we want to do everything we can to have a legitimate vpn service for our users who need to access office 365, azure and our internal network
i cant find any instructions or process to get our solution registered and approved
You can’t find instructions because there aren’t any. Your best bet is to ask around your city’s information technology office or maybe your local police station.
This post gave me such relief… thnx dude
I’m glad it was helpful!
Hey Josh great article! Travelling in China’s capital Beijing last month, actually there is a huge banning on the web. I needed a VPN for some specific sites. I confirm that in China’s Apple store I couldnt even find an actually VPN app!
Exactly. That’s why I always tell people to set up the VPN before they get to China!
I have been working in hebei province for 3 years. vpn is always connected. no one asked me about it.
Exactly. I have a similar story. They don’t really care about us foreigners.
something i want to say is , your phone will not get blocked because of using vpn, and it is probably not true that someone were sent to prison because of using vpn in china. However, vpn is easy to get blocked in china, because the great fire wall can detect it, a better solution is rent a vps and create a shadowshockr on it, usually this will not get blocked, I am a chinese and i use shadowshockr for a long time, everything is fine
Thanks for the feedback, but I disagree. My Shadowsocks connection was the most unreliable connection in China, which was very disappointing since I paid for a whole year. I wasn’t the only one of my friends with the same problem. And my phone was personally blocked because of using a VPN (plus many other foreigners AND Chinese people in Xinjiang).
I value your opinion; however, just because you’re Chinese does not mean you understand the VPN situation in China.
this is a difficult situation, i can barely believe that some part of the world does not have the same internet i do. I got familiar with vpn’s way before i travelled to china, i bought it for streaming servises but then decided to travel i was glad I had nordvpn already installed. my friend had express and it was much slower then mine so we end up sharing nordvpn, coz u can use it on several devices and it didn’t affect our speeds, but it is a must to have a VPN in China. otherwise, you won’t be able to access your regular news sites or social media.
Very true. I always recommend to have at least two VPNs just in case 😉
I also have 2 VPN apps installed just in case one of them doesn’t work. But in most cases the VPN works everywhere. And in China too.
do you think im able to send the info to a chinese email?
Sure, why not?
Hi, I’m visiting my relatives in Guanzhou for about a week and a half. I was wondering if I use a VPN, would the police track us down or something? I’m just worried about using a VPN and my relatives getting punished or fined because of me using it.
I’ve never heard of that happening before, so I wouldn’t give it much thought. I’ve read reports of one Chinese person getting a 200 RMB fine (US$30) for using a VPN, but that’s it.
Please feel free to use it, because i use vpn in china for Nearly 6 years, not happened to me.
Hi There,
I will be travelling to china in a week, and will be based mainly in shanghai and beijing. are there any updates with regards to the use of vpns or is everything still as PREVIOUSLY mentioned?
thanks
Everything is as mentioned here! I keep this article up-to-date on a weekly basis 🙂
Thanks. I plan to use express VPN during my stay, so realistically, would you say the likelihood of getting into any trouble is still low? I am worried my phone will get blocked in a similar fashion to what you experienced in 2015.
Thanks again
Excellent information. will be in china in sept. I am not much of a tech guy, so all I want to do is use my computer an or tablet to access my amazon prime, sling and nbc all access apps and websites plus yahoo mail and g-mail. will this do that? also do I pay extra to load it on my laptop, tablet, and phone?
Please download vpn in your country before you come to CHINA
On anoTher topic, any insights on the current u.s. state department’s level 2 travel warning for china?
Thanks!
I’ve written up an entire article discussing the current China travel advisory. Give it a read!