Thanks, I will start there. What do you think of the idea of needing to sign up with several in case of blocks? (Once you're there, it's pretty much too late.)
I already have one VPN, HotspotShield, to use over high-risk public wi-fi networks like cafes and airports here in the U.S., not sure if it works in China.
I don't understand this. VPNs are for several purposes:
1) Securing private data from a device in transit to a private network, over a public network
2) For bypassing firewalls
3) For protecting anonymity (from your ISP or from the websites you're visiting)
They are NOT for protecting data that goes over the public internet. If you are transmitting your data in such a way that it can be stolen, all the VPN does is push the point at which the data can be stolen from the coffee shop to after it leaves your VPN provider's network. You should use end-to-end encryption for all of your data that you care about, and in that case, it does not matter whether you are using a VPN.
It is always good to have multiple VPNs whenever you go into China. On my next trip, I will likely have:
1) OpenVPN to home server
2) Shadowsocks to home server
3) SSH tunnel to home server
4) ExpressVPN
5) VPN.ac
6) Psiphon
7) TOR
8) HK SIM card
9) AT&T SIM card
Overkill? Probably. But I'd rather have more VPNs than I need than need more VPNs than I have...