OK, LINE seemed to work for a while even without VPN, but now it's completely blocked, even if using a VPN. So China can do selective blocking on content accessed through VPNs hmmm... :(

Maybe it has something to do with my local IP address, but Line is working okay for me even when I'm not on VPN. (I know I said the same thing earlier this thread prior to hard block.)

LINE does NOT work for me here in Wenzhou.

Heck, Flyer Talk does not load without VPN now.

Really don't understand the political reasons behind this.

FT , It could be the location, your device, or the browser.

In BJ, FT does not load on IE, but does on firefox.

In Urumqi last week, all over the water web sites were blocked, even NFL.com !

No problems using LINE last Thurs/Fri in Beijing with a Unicom 3G SIM.

The Xinjiang "all foreign websites" block, however, is indeed a major pain as it also catches the VPNs (as they are invariably foreign-based). Only way around that particular brand of nonsense that I've found so far is a sort-of double VPN solution: VPN to somewhere else inside China with more liberal firewall rules (e.g. my VPS in Shanghai), then out from there via another VPN/proxy. Very inconvenient. :td:

Lots of people in Taiwan use both Wechat and Line. Line is the most popular, but still most people have both (most but not ALL). Line now also has bothersome ads (people add by your phone number, seems people/shops sell numbers in mass to marketing companies). An interesting function of Wechat, you can see who is in the area near you, try it in Taiwan and you see many users nearby (more so in Taipei than in KHH) and most are local.

I will post my insights later today in the Wechat thread, but the short of it is that Tencent has a pretty solid game plan.

Question for you folks.

While I was in China, my LINE was definitely blocked. I just couldn't connect to the network.

What happens to the messages that were sent by others that you didn't receive while inland? Do they suddenly appear when you leave China? or the messages just lost?

Should be no different than being offline (ie, 14 hour flight with no service) - once you reconnect, the messages should be delivered.

No idea about LINE -- never used it. However, was in Sanlitun yesterday and they have a HUGE LINE promotion going on in Taikooli (what used to be known as the Village). People were queueing patiently to do something, ?look at merchandising associated with the App.

I'm presuming this means it is no longer blocked, since the vast majority of the population doesn't have VPN and only Chinese seemed to be interested in the promotion.

tb

Most recent block, was to prevent Hong Kong protest messages which made use to Line to prevent it to reach the mainland.

To block the Pro-Government, pro-PRC protests?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28824975

It's good to see that more and more Hong Kongers understand the right thing to do ^

If you happened to be in Central during those days, you might have noticed all of the PRC flag burning and related hooplah... not exactly the type of imagery that Beijing wants being disseminated via social media.

The right thing to do? I have yet to find a single HK citizen in my fairly extensive network who even remotely supports the communist government's agenda for HK - in fact, my FB feed was littered with photos, videos and supportive comments for the protest, and comments against the communist mainland, no different than my FB feed during the protests against the foolish trade pact between independent Taiwan and the communist mainland.

An ongoing political movement supported by social media tools is just what the Dr ordered to help fuel an independence movement in Hong Kong, and I hope one day soon I witness just such a declaration from the people of Hong Kong.

They can block Line, Whatsapp and Facebook, but they cant extinguish the desire for freedom from the hearts and minds of people.

Can anyone confirm if Line is actually being blocked? I had lunch with my cousin just yesterday, and he said had been communicating with daughter in Beijing. I sent text via Line earlier this afternoon but assume she's asleep....LOL.

FWIW, she's using a TMO simple choice plan, piggybacking off my family plan. Maybe that's why she CAN connect?