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 in 2024? 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 the popularity has surged for the best VPN for China.
The question isn’t popularity, though, it’s legality. Is using a VPN legal in China? I have a few interesting anecdotes to share as we figure out what is right and what is wrong…because it’s clearly not a black and white issue.
UPDATE January 2024: There has been a lot of talk about whether or not it’s legal to use a VPN in China these last few years due to the fact that China has threatened to ban all VPNs and even took the step to remove all VPN apps from China’s Apple store.
Seems ominous, right?
Why would China try to ban and remove something that was legal?
I propose a different way of looking at this. If VPNs were illegal in China, why wouldn’t they just start arresting foreigners who use VPNs instead of making big headlines with a ban?
Yet as of 2024, no foreigner has been punished for using a VPN.
Historically, China tends to talk big on these type of things. As I’ll describe below, to question are VPNs legal in China is natural…
…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.
So why hasn’t China completely blocked VPNs?
The answer is quite simple.
You see, it’s not a matter of whether it’s legal to use a VPN in China.
No, the real reason is because…
VPNs are a necessary part of doing business.
This is particularly true for international companies doing business 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 the government has made VPNs legal in China.
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.
Read that carefully: local Chinese, not travelers and expats.
There was a news report published in early 2017 that talked about the government 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 doesn’t **technically** apply to us.
We still have the ability to log onto a VPN. Now, I say we have the ability…it’s not a 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.
Will China Punish Me 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.
This happened to me personally.
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, went through all my apps and deleted all the VPNs and foreign messaging apps (Skype, Viber, Signal, etc.).
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 you better believe they’re going to continue to 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 to my knowledge.
There’s still every indication that it is legal to use a VPN in China for foreigners.
Recommended VPNs for China in 2024
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 in China, I’ve tried dozens and dozens of different VPNs and I can confidently say that these have been the most reliable services for me:
ExpressVPN | Best Overall VPN
- Best apps for your computer and phone;
- 5 simultaneous connections
- Some of the fastest speeds available;
- New, secure Lightway protocol
Surfshark | Best Value VPN for China
- Lowest monthly pricing;
- Unlimited connections;
- Wireguard protocol;
- Easy to install and use software;
If I’ve been able to put your mind at ease about whether using a VPN is legal in China and you’re looking for a recommended VPN to use, definitely check these out.
Final Thoughts | Are VPNs Legal in China?
So…are VPNs legal in China?
The truth is that 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 Surfshark, but there are a number of great VPNs for China that might work better where you’ll be visiting or living.
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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.
Hi,
Do you Still use vpn in hebei ?
is there any issue?
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!
And what about proxy services? This is also an option to reach the outside world in china. There are many different proxy service providers, like Smartproxy or proxyway etc.
Proxy services can work, but over the past 10 years I’ve found these to be wildly unreliable.
Josh, great information, but if one is already in China, can you download Express vpn from the apple store? And if not, how would you get and install the app? Many thanks for your terrific insight and assistance
Rob
That’s a good question, Robert. The easiest way would be to find a friend who has a VPN on their router or who can connect to a VPN on their phone and allow you to tether off of them. In that way, you’ll have VPN access to the internet to get it set up.
Hi, is Expressvpn and nordvpn still work in xinjiang?
Yes, they are, although the internet in Xinjiang is generally much slower.
HI JOSh,
Thanks for your sharing.
honestly， i’m from china.
we got so much ways to join into this gray area china. 🙂
because you should know that we got huge mount of gamer in china.They have to join into the international server to start a game. like pubg or nintendo switch online service for Splatoon2, yeah this what i’m doing right now.
Yeah you are right, you should download vpn app before come to china.
I just came to Shanghai for a 6 day visit and was able to download expressvpn from the app store and get it working while in China. It gives you a 7 day trial period which is perfect for tourists.
I’m glad you were able to use it, Nam!
a very helpful and informative post, but I would like to say that Expressvpn lately has been faltering in China. I had to change vpns last november because of the blocks that started occurring during summits. It got to the point where each time Express got blocked, they would permanently lose viable servers, it eventually got down to maybe 5 servers, none of which I could use to stream amazon or netflix.
My subscription is still good until this november, but I don’t even use it anymore since it barely can connect anymore. That said, it always disappoints me that people continue to jump on the expressvpn bandwagon. It is a shell of what it once was.
been to china for 3 weeks now. All kinds of VPNs worked for 2 weeks for me. At first. After 2 weeks, however, each day at least one server stopped working after streaming a movie on youtube. I’ve burned quite a few connections by now. Besides the VPN from university still working, ExpressVPN is the only one left working for me besides the one from my university in england. Tried 5 different vpn providers. TBH, i didn’t take expressvpn serious at first, but now i’m quite baffled. Checked their configurations, can confirm they are doing more than other VPN providers, e.g. varying ports, supporting different vpn protocols (OpenVPN UDP, OpenVPNTCP, IKE, L2tp, …) etc. Agree they are only mentioning 5 server locations working for china ATM.
My vpn was also down entire september till today. all paid ones wouldn’t work and it would take 2 hours just to try and try to finally get a working server. only the small vpns would work and the speed aren’t that great too. let’s hope they start working again because not being able to access those websites are delaying my work.
Can I go into hong Kong and set up,Im living in Shenzen and have paid for a year but my phone number has changed in SZ and my Gmail wont work here
Thanks
Bob
Yes, you can set up your VPN in Hong Kong.
SO according to what rk said on October 3. 2019, neither expressvpn or nordvpn are working right now?
I wanted to get one of those before my trip to china but i guess not if they got shut down.
Can someone confirm or deny please ?
All VPNs were having big trouble during the 70th anniversary celebrations in early October. Everything is back to “normal” now, so it’s safe to get the VPN again.
Did you install the VPN when you were outside China? My Chinese friend tells me that the website cannot be opened inside China and he lives in the Henan province.
Hey Peter, thankfully there are a few ways that you can install a VPN from within China, even though most of the VPN websites are blocked like your friend said.
Hi Josh,
I’M from the philippines and we are travelling in beijing for 7 days tourist vacation, so we need do install/download the vpn we need to use in china here in the philippines a day before our travel?
Thanks,
ShEy
Yes, it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, it always helps to download and setup your VPN before you arrive in China 🙂 Good luck!
Hey Josh, thanks for keeping this post up to date. Have you noticed any increased covid-related crackdowns on foreigners using VPns? Or any increase in rackdowns in general now? Thanks so much.
Hey Carol, my pleasure! Based on all the reports I’m hearing, it’s been slightly more difficult to connect to a VPN this year as opposed to the last few years, but I wouldn’t say it’s a “covid-related crackdown” per se. Nobody has gotten into trouble for using a VPN, at least.
Hi Josh,
Hope you are still in china.
How about workingon VPn there during this pandemic ?
is it possible to access google using vpn now?
I know plenty of people in various parts of China that are still connecting to a VPN during the pandemic, so you’ll be fine 🙂