censorship of the Internet in the People's Republic of China
Factsheet
Country People's Republic of China
Country People's Republic of China
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Great_Firewall
Great Firewall - Wikipedia
1 week ago - Since 2013, the firewall is operated ... of China. The Great Firewall operates by checking transmission control protocol (TCP) packets for keywords or sensitive words. If the keywords or sensitive words appear in the TCP packets, access will be closed. If one link is closed, more links from the same machine will be blocked by the Great Firewall. The effect includes: limiting access to ...
Stanford CS
cs.stanford.edu › people › eroberts › cs181 › projects › 2010-11 › FreeExpressionVsSocialCohesion › china_policy.html
China's Great Firewall
To get an idea of how strict the policy is, http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US consists of a list of the most popular sites in the United States. Google, Facebook, and Yahoo are the top 3; of these top 3, none are allowed in China. This is to be expected due to the quick information dissemination possible through these social domains.
Why did China create the Great Firewall?
China created the Great Firewall to monitor, filter, and control Internet content for users within the country. Chinese leaders, while recognizing the potential value of the Internet for accessing global markets and technologies, were hesitant to risk their authority.
To gain greater control over the Internet, China's Ministry of Public Security initiated the Golden Shield Project in 1998 to control the flow of information. This project aimed to monitor citizens' Internet activity and block access to websites that did not align with the Chinese government's strict policies, resulting in the creation of the Great Firewall.
The Great Firewall serves to selectively separate Chinese cyberspace from the outside world and prevent Chinese citizens from accessing information deemed detrimental or potentially destabilizing to the country's interests. It blocks content that may incite political resistance, reveal state secrets, or relate to pornography, gambling, or violence.
britannica.com
britannica.com › politics, law & government › politics & political systems
Great Firewall | History, China, Hong Kong, & Facts | Britannica
How do I bypass the Chinese firewall?
The Great Chinese Firewall is an infringement on personal liberties, but it’s not unavoidable. With a reliable VPN (virtual private network), anyone can circumvent these geographical blocks and bypass censorship in China.
vpnoverview.com
vpnoverview.com › unblock › censorship › censorship in china: how to bypass the great firewall of china
Censorship in China: How to bypass the Great Firewall of China
What is the Great Firewall?
China's Great Firewall is a regulatory and technological system that controls Internet content for users within the country. Initiated in 1998 with the Golden Shield Project, it selectively separates Chinese cyberspace from the outside world to prevent access to information considered detrimental to the country's interests.
The Great Firewall uses methods such as filtering keywords, blocking foreign websites and apps, blocking IP addresses, and Domain Name System (DNS) poisoning. It blocks content that may incite political resistance, reveal state secrets, or relate to pornography, gambling, or violence. Popular social media, streaming, and news sites are also blocked.
This has created a captive market, leaving Chinese users to use domestic alternatives.
britannica.com
britannica.com › politics, law & government › politics & political systems
Great Firewall | History, China, Hong Kong, & Facts | Britannica
19:07
How The West Misunderstands China’s Great Firewall - YouTube
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Massive leak exposes how China’s ‘Great Firewall’ is being ...
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The Great Firewall of China, Explained - YouTube
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What Is the Great Firewall of China? | Zoom In Zoom Out - YouTube
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How does the Great Firewall of China work? - YouTube
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4 Proven Ways to Bypass China's Great Firewall | Access Blocked ...
Internet Society
internetsociety.org › home › internet fragmentation: an explainer › the chinese firewall
The Chinese Firewall - Internet Society
September 23, 2025 - Global Internet traffic comes into and out of China via a limited number of terrestrial links. At these entry points, incoming content is filtered and inspected by government authorities. These authorities have the ability to block entire domain names and IP address ranges.
Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › politics, law & government › politics & political systems
Great Firewall | History, China, Hong Kong, & Facts | Britannica
September 8, 2026 - Tactics include keyword filtering, blocking foreign websites/apps, and blocking IP addresses. The Great Firewall blocks content that could incite political resistance, reveal state secrets, or relate to pornography, gambling, or violence.
Fair Observer
fairobserver.com › home › the great firewall of china
The Limitations of the Great Firewall of China
September 24, 2019 - For instance, while the Chinese were long shielded by the Great Wall, today they are additionally surrounded by the “Great Firewall” — a digital wall that limits internet users’ access to the World Wide Web from within the People’s Republic of China.
TechTarget
techtarget.com › whatis › definition › Great-Firewall-of-China
What is the Great Firewall of China?
But this splinternet creates another set of dangers. The Great Firewall is in effect a massive form of internet censorship, limiting the ability of those within China to freely access any information source they choose.
Marketingblatt
blog.marketingblatt.com › en › great-firewall-of-china
Great Firewall of China and its importance for europeean companies
September 12, 2025 - The GFW blocks popular communication tools like certain email providers and video conferencing platforms commonly used by businesses for collaboration and communication. This can make it difficult to stay in touch with colleagues, clients, and ...
EXPERTE.com
experte.com › experte.com it security tools › great firewall of china
The Great Firewall of China: What It Is and How to Get Around It | EXPERTE.com
Since 2020, a law has been in place that allows the government to limit freedom of the press to a greater extent than before. Although Hong Kong remains freer than mainland China, it’s still advisable to protect your anonymity with a VPN while there. The Great Firewall blocks a wide range of services and content, which are regularly added to and updated.
VPNOverview
vpnoverview.com › unblock › censorship › censorship in china: how to bypass the great firewall of china
Censorship in China: How to bypass the Great Firewall of China
April 2, 2026 - The Great Firewall enforces strict internet censorship in China, blocking foreign platforms, filtering content, and limiting online freedom.
GoClick China
goclickchina.com › home › insights › the complete guide to the great firewall of china (gfoc)
The complete guide to the Great Firewall of China (GFoC)
November 20, 2024 - However, China Unicom is popular in the North and China Mobile in the Central and Eastern regions. The Chinese market holds tremendous scope for global ventures. However, penetrating the stringent internet regulations and circumventing the censorships can be challenging. Therefore, if you need professional consultation to reach out to your customers in the Chinese mainland, you may find our assistance highly advantageous. To prevent your website or app from getting blocked by the Great Firewall of China, it is crucial to perform China firewall tests to monitor the performance of your content delivery.
Proton VPN
protonvpn.com › blog › great-firewall-china
What is the Great Firewall of China and how does it work? | Proton VPN
July 17, 2026 - Also blocked are services designed to bypass China’s censorship measures, including almost all international VPN services. It is worth noting that the Great Firewall of China covers mainland China, not Hong Kong or Macau. Until recently, these Special Administrative Region(new window)s’ internet access was never interfered with and they could browse the uncensored internet.
Airespring
airespring.com › blog-posts › overcoming-the-challenges-of-the-great-firewall-of-china
Overcoming the Challenges of the Great Firewall of China | AireSpring
Users can also encounter speed and performance issues amounting to · an estimated seven percent loss in conversions, 11 percent fewer page views, and poor customer or employee experience.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/china › why on earth is the firewall still a thing
r/China on Reddit: Why on earth is the firewall still a thing
August 12, 2023 -
The reasoning all my mainland peers have given me for the firewall is to keep chinese citizens pro ccp and prevent foreign overthrows, but at this point the entire population is so pro ccp that the whole point of the firewall seems irrelevant.
This is also just a rant because i have to restart my phone and turn on my vpn before my chinese sim card activates in order to watch youtube at extremly low quality and speed.
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Contrary to what the international audience think, the average Chinese is anything but average: loads of people are brainwashed, and at the same time understands that the CCP isn’t forever and immortal and would crash someday. There’s dissenting voices to be heard everywhere within China, just that the media is designed to remove and censor such noises. Just like the silent majority in any country, a huge majority in China is simply indifferent to politics, and any loud opinion would definitely sway public opinion. This is why the CCP wants such a strong control over public voice: it’s the kindling that would signal the end. The people who are truly brainwashed and loud are either 1) the truly brainwashed who has nothing better to do, or 2) those who have personal interest in maintaining the regime (high officials, rich businessmen etc). Otherwise the rest are really the silent majority who are easily swayed by whoever dominates the media. To maintain a dictatorship, you either have to give the people what they want, or change their demand of you. The vast majority of Chinese right now are led to think that the CCP is the best option right now, but would not hesitate to jump ship to the alternative if the CCP fails to give what the average man wants. After all, every Chinese is educated from young on the numerous dynasties and regimes of Chinese history; another could easily take the place of the CCP.
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The Chinese government likes to have control over everything. The firewall allows them to delete and censor anything they dislike. Could you imagine if the white paper movement that happened last year spread on a foreign social media site that the Chinese government has no control over and has no power to censor.
TIME
time.com › world › china just made it even harder to get around the great firewall
China Tightens Internet Control With New VPN Rules
The move is likely to make most current providers of VPNs in China unlawful, reports the South China Morning Post. Currently, Chinese web users have to rely on bypass technologies like VPNs to visit popular sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia, all of which are blocked from normal access by the country’s Great Firewall.
Published: January 23, 2017
Super Weapon News
superweaponnews.com › article › the-great-firewall-of-china-in-2026-what-it-actually-blocks-how-it-does-it-and-who-decides
The Great Firewall of China: What It Actually Blocks, How It Does It, and Who Decides — Super Weapon News
June 10, 2026 - Most cross-border HTTP/3 connections fall back to TCP HTTP/2 inside China, defeating most of QUIC's latency advantages for affected users. This is sometimes mistakenly attributed to "the firewall being slow"; it is actually a deliberate protocol downgrade enforced at the edge.
Nym
nym.com › home › blog › what is china’s great firewall?
What is China’s Great Firewall? Nym explains censorship
August 26, 2026 - The Tor project offers robust alternatives to circumvent censorship in China. These include: WebTunnel disguises traffic as regular HTTPS access · Snowflake uses ephemeral proxies to create connections that are difficult to track · Private obfs4 bridges avoid detection by not being publicly listed · Meek-azure camouflages traffic as if it were from large cloud services, albeit with bandwidth limitations.
Access to China
accesstochina.com › learn more › articles › being seen in china › great chinese firewall
Great Chinese Firewall | Blocking International Internet Content
May 10, 2026 - The exception applies to overseas social media platforms, where there is no agreement with the overseas social media company to limit access to its content in China in line with published rules and regulations. Practical takeaway: The “Great Firewall” is often discussed as a blocker, but for business websites, the real issue is usually speed, routing, and dependencies that make pages unusable.
Files.com
files.com › docs › networking-and-performance › great-firewall-of-china
Documentation - Great Firewall of China — Files.com
The People's Republic of China also blocks all cross-border internet traffic at times, usually during censored events such as the weeks before and after June 4th, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Encrypted file transfers can also be blocked depending on the transmission protocol (FTP(S), SFTP, HTTP(S), WebDAV, etc.), the encryption type (TLS, SSL, SSH, etc.), and the encryption ciphers being used. The Great Firewall is constantly adjusting to internet traffic so it's impossible to determine exactly why a connection could be blocked.
The Guardian
theguardian.com › news › 2018 › jun › 29 › the-great-firewall-of-china-xi-jinpings-internet-shutdown
The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown | China | The Guardian
July 7, 2021 - Yet Xi’s growing control over the internet does not come without costs. An internet that does not work efficiently or limits access to information impedes economic growth. China’s internet is notoriously unreliable, and ranks 91st in the world for speed.