Google (mail/calendar) in China
Dec 29, 2014, 9:05 am
#31
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I think many people underestimate the extent to which Google "plays ball". While they haven't kow towed in the same manner as msft and yahoo to the censors, they are still a sizable employer. Have you ever been to any of their offices in China? All very nice.
May 27, 2015, 9:42 am
#35
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Aug 7, 2015, 7:34 am
#36
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I'll add report of my own, which is that I found gmail through my mail app on iphone (using IMAP) to work okay over wifi. Sometimes seemed to get timeouts checking for mail, and was a bit slow. But both hotel and other wifi I used seemed not to be blocked. I didn't try it much, but browser gmail didn't seem to work.
Aug 8, 2015, 10:43 am
#38
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Aug 8, 2015, 11:16 am
#39
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Aug 10, 2015, 8:31 pm
#40
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Aug 11, 2015, 12:03 am
#41
Join Date: Sep 2013
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It took me about 15 minutes to set up ExpressVPN and it is no hassle whatsoever to use. And when you are not in China you just don't activate it. The only downside is that you have to pay to keep your subscription alive, unless you want to cancel and sign up each time you come to China, but we are only looking at USD 13 per month for a monthly basis.
Aug 11, 2015, 11:32 pm
#43
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If you don't have anything sensitive in your Gmail, another option is to use one of the Chinese mail apps (e.g. 163 or QQ Mail) to access it: they have struck a bargain with our dear net nannies to allow access and prominently advertise support for Gmail.
Certainly doesn't replace a VPN, but is a potential option if Gmail is all you care about and you don't mind Tencent and the friendly local 网安警务室 reading all your mail.
Certainly doesn't replace a VPN, but is a potential option if Gmail is all you care about and you don't mind Tencent and the friendly local 网安警务室 reading all your mail.
Aug 12, 2015, 2:16 am
#44
Join Date: Dec 2007
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If you don't have anything sensitive in your Gmail, another option is to use one of the Chinese mail apps (e.g. 163 or QQ Mail) to access it: they have struck a bargain with our dear net nannies to allow access and prominently advertise support for Gmail.
Certainly doesn't replace a VPN, but is a potential option if Gmail is all you care about and you don't mind Tencent and the friendly local 网安警务室 reading all your mail.
Certainly doesn't replace a VPN, but is a potential option if Gmail is all you care about and you don't mind Tencent and the friendly local 网安警务室 reading all your mail.
However, for the casual, non-Chinese speaking visitor, using the workarounds is not 100% straightforward. I do think that VPNs are almost de rigeur for the business, if not the tourist visitor these days. Having a smart phone but not being able to use google maps would be highly frustrating.
Having said that, we often have visiting students etc to my lab, and many manage a couple of months in Beijing without VPN...
tb
Aug 12, 2015, 5:12 pm
#45
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If you don't have anything sensitive in your Gmail, another option is to use one of the Chinese mail apps (e.g. 163 or QQ Mail) to access it: they have struck a bargain with our dear net nannies to allow access and prominently advertise support for Gmail.
Certainly doesn't replace a VPN, but is a potential option if Gmail is all you care about and you don't mind Tencent and the friendly local 网安警务室 reading all your mail.
Certainly doesn't replace a VPN, but is a potential option if Gmail is all you care about and you don't mind Tencent and the friendly local 网安警务室 reading all your mail.